Childhood obesity in Mexico: social determinants of health and other risk factors

Abstract

Approximately 50 million children and adolescents in Latin America are affected by the childhood obesity pandemic. We present the case of a 5-year-old Mexican girl with obesity and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), in whom prenatal, lifestyle and environmental risk factors were identified. Here, we demonstrate how childhood obesity is rooted since pregnancy and the perinatal stage, and how the social determinants of health like unsafe outdoor conditions, lack of infrastructure to exercise and a suboptimal physical activity curriculum in government schools strongly influence the development and maintenance of childhood obesity and complicate management.

Keywords: childhood nutrition; childhood nutrition (paediatrics); global health; obesity (nutrition).