This year, Mexico took America’s crown as the most obese nation this side of the world, with a 32.8% obesity rate. The problems caused by obesity are causing a public health crisis in Mexico, with children growing fatter and adults increasingly dying from heart disease and diabetes. Currently, 15% of the population above the age of 20 suffers from adult-onset diabetes.
Mexico’s current president, Enrique Nieto Pena, who we wrote about in the 10 Fittest Heads of State article, has proposed a possible solution for the obesity epidemic his nation currently faces – a bill that suggests applying a tax of one peso (eight cents) for each liter of sugar-sweetened beverage. Concentrates, powders, syrups, essences and flavor extracts would be taxed based on the amount of sugar-flavored beverage they would yield. The government said the tax of one peso per liter would bring in a little more than $900 million a year in revenue. By mid-November, Mexico’s Congress is expected to approve the soft-drink tax.
Mexico is currently the second largest consumer of sodas-per-capita in the world, and sugary fruit-flavored waters and juices are also extremely popular in Mexico. We wrote about the dangerous effects of soda on your health in an article here.
Readers: Do you feel this tax is a good proactive prevention of obesity? What else do you feel governments should do in aiding its people in being healthy?
