Obesity is a growing problem, pun intended, in Latin America. The culprit? Ultra-processed food. Food under this category are considered fatty, salty, and sugary, NBC news reported. From 2000 to 2013, per capita sales of ultra-processed food jumped a massive 27%. The increase in obesity during this timeframe strongly correlates with the consumption of extremely unhealthy food.
There were 13 countries included in the study by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). The countries with the highest rates of obesity are Mexico and Chile, while the smallest rates of obesity come from Bolivia and Ecuador.
Ultra-processed food contains little to no whole food in them, but they make seem like real food in appearance. The high amounts of unnecessary ingredients in these foods make them deficient in nutritional content. Examples of ultra-processed food being consumed in large quantities are ice cream, sweetened breakfast cereals, ready-to-eat meals, carbonated soft drinks, and candy.
It must be noted that much of the food available today is processed in some way. However, recent developments in food technology have practically changed the very content of the raw materials used to create the ultra-processed food. The presence of chemical preservatives alone makes these foods an inferior choice.
Enrique Jacoby, advisor on nutrition and physical activity to PAHO/WHO, said, "Ultra-processed food products and fast food are occupying a larger share of what people eat and drink in Latin America, with very negative results."
He adds that these low quality foods "are not designed to meet people's nutritional needs." Instead, they are "engineered to have long shelf lives and to create cravings that can completely overpower people's innate appetite-control mechanisms and their rational desire to stop eating."
The quasi-addictive qualities plus availability of these ultra-processed foods make them an easy choice for consumers. However, the obvious backlash of this is a downgrade in overall health. More worrisome is that the Latin American market ranks as the world's fourth largest for ultra-processed food. The first three are North America, then Australasia, and then Western Europe.
