Buenos Aires growing obesity problem

[Ries]

Sugar consumption per capita is higher in Argentina than the USA, and pretty much always has been.
US consumption, believe it or not, is currently quite a bit lower, and has stayed pretty steady for a long time.

And according to this chart, Argentine consumption is up by about ten pounds per person per year in the last 20 years.

http://www.whocollab.od.mah.se/expl/globalsugar.html#AMRO

 

[syngirl]

Great post Mike

Many people do not know the huge amount of calories in fast food and that they Starbucks and McDonalds are the worst offenders. Did you know that a vanilla bean frappuccino with whipped cream delivers over 500 calories to your body? It's astonishing: many of the coffee drinks served at Starbucks and other coffee joints are little more than coffee-flavored sugar and fat potions that will cause you to rapidly gain weight. They're candy. Nutritionally speaking, they're not that different from ice cream.

Every time I've been to a Starbucks ALL the teenagers (girls especially) are walking away from the counter with their frappucinos -- I keep having to stop myself from screaming out that they are chock full of calories. I seriously think that they just aren't aware of it -- and by the end of summer they'll be wondering why they've gained 5-10kilos...

 

[mini]

Sugar consumption per capita is higher in Argentina than the USA, and pretty much always has been.
US consumption, believe it or not, is currently quite a bit lower, and has stayed pretty steady for a long time.

And according to this chart, Argentine consumption is up by about ten pounds per person per year in the last 20 years.

http://www.whocollab.od.mah.se/expl/globalsugar.html#AMRO

This is misleading at the US eats a great deal of high fructose corn syrup.

From wiki:
"The average American consumed approximately 37.8 lb (17.1 kg) of HFCS in 2008, versus 46.7 lb (21.2 kg) of sucrose.[35] In countries where HFCS is not used or rarely used, sucrose consumption per person may be higher than in the USA; sucrose consumption per person from various locations is shown below (2002):[36]
USA: 32.4 kg (71 lb)
EU: 40.1 kg (88 lb)
Brazil: 59.7 kg (132 lb)
Australia: 56.2 kg (124 lb)
Of course, in terms of total sugars consumed, the figures from countries where HFCS is not used should be compared to the sum of the sucrose and HFCS figures from countries where HFCS consumption is significant."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup#Sweetener_consumption_patterns

 

[sergio]

I've never seen so much Coke and other soft drinks consumed as in Argentina. Go to any party and you will see far more soda being consumed than alcohol. Go to the best restaurants and you will see a lot of people drinking ---- wine? No, many have Coke bottles on the table!

Coffee: My understanding is that the horrible coffee served almost everywhere in BA is toasted with sugar to disguise the bitter taste of cheap beans, not to add weight. Can anyone clarify this?

 

[perry]

Coke is huge here and parents feed it to their children like water and then wonder why their children have behavioural problems .

I also have noticed a huge tendency towards energy drinks with aspartmane or high fructose syrup . These are very dangerous but are promoted as something fashion in Buenos Aires

 

[Ries]

In addition to the 43 kilos a year of sugar per capita Argentines eat, they ALSO eat HFCS.

http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent GAIN Publications/Sugar Annual_Buenos Aires_Argentina_4-20-2010.pdf

Says there are 4 major HFCS producers in Argentina, mostly for domestic consumption, and figures I could find online indicated well over 300,000 metric tons of HFCS per year is made here.

My point is that if you include the huge amount of sugar, then add in the HFCS, Argentines most likely consume MORE sugar than Yankees do.
HFCS consumption in the USA has actually been decreasing recently in absolute numbers, while population has been growing. This means per capita consumption of HFCS in the USA is down.

Now, certainly, I agree its nasty stuff, and I try to avoid it as much as possible, and I know I, personally, dont eat anywhere near 30 or 40 kilos of sugar a year either.

But, having spent a fair amount of time in both the USA and Argentina, I still maintain that Argentines eat more sugar than Nortenos do.

 

[Oska]

I guess that the article in Forbes does not reflect the people starving in the north of the country.... on the average then Argentinians are slim.
I understand that Forbes could be worried, but I think that Args have many more things to worry about.
cheers !

 

[fifs2]

When I arrived in 2003 the sugar companies had huge ads all over the city promoting sugar as a diestary necessity, vital for energy and good health...if I had seen them anywheer else I would have thought it was satire...

 

[perry]

I guess that the article in Forbes does not reflect the people starving in the north of the country.... on the average then Argentinians are slim.
I understand that Forbes could be worried, but I think that Args have many more things to worry about.
cheers ![/quote

Argentina provides more than enough food for its citizens and then some and I do not believe that people are dying in this country from lack of food . There is a generous social system in place for those who are less fortunate that is the envy of Latin America.

Tens of thousands of argentinians die each year from obesity related illnesses and in comparison maybe a handful die of anorexia and related diseases.

Most poor people in the capital are fat due to a terrible diet . They make the choice to buy coke and junk food. There is a mimimum subsidy set by the government of 1200 pesos per person . Buying rice, lentils , vegetables can be very cheap and nutritous.

Eating healthy is not more expensive and rice ,lentils, beans are cheap and will sustain the human body very well.

 

[syngirl]

Argentina provides more than enough food for its citizens and then some and I do not believe that people are dying in this country from lack of food . There is a generous social system in place for those who are less fortunate that is the envy of Latin America.

Tens of thousands of argentinians die each year from obesity related illnesses and in comparison maybe a handful die of anorexia and related diseases.

Most poor people in the capital are fat due to a terrible diet . They make the choice to buy coke and junk food. There is a mimimum subsidy set by the government of 1200 pesos per person . Buying rice, lentils , vegetables can be very cheap and nutritous.

Eating healthy is not more expensive and rice ,lentils, beans are cheap and will sustain the human body very well.

Hi Perry -- Unfortunately there are people dying in this country from malnutrition -- in the north -- Formosa, Missiones, Chaco -- it is nothing like here in Capital. Even in Santiago del Estero, where I was in August, the poverty even just outside the centre of the provincial capital, is devastating. Even the portenos with whom I was travelling were shocked and they had known previously that it was a very poor province, whereas myself knew relatively little about the province at all.

http://en.mercopress.com/2010/10/25...-children-in-six-months-in-argentine-province


However do agree with you on most points! Educolorante is the devil, and it has a horrible taste -- if you're going to have a soft drink, which I do occasionally, you're better off having regular Coke instead of Diet -- here in Argentina the Coke is still made with sugar not HFCS (at least last time I checked the label, haven't in a bit as I haven't had any).

Buenos Aires does have a bounty of healthful foods, they can be found in your local dietetica -- who usually stock all sorts of dried beans and whole grains. Like anywhere else, eating healthfully is a choice, unfortunately most people I know here have been fed Coca Cola from the time they were two...

My father-in-law just had gastric bypass surgery (literally just got out of the hospital on saturday). if you ask me it was unnecessary -- he needs to lose about 30kg or 70lbs -- I thought such a drastic and permanent procedure was meant for those who were 50kg or 100lbs + overweight. He has never truly tried to diet -- this is a man who proudly claims that he "hates water" -- he refuses to drink it -- the only thing he drinks is soft drinks. Well now he's had a procedure where he can never drink them again, unless he wants to induce voiting and diarrhea.

If you ask me he was looking for a quick fix, he has not truly considered that now his diet must change for the rest of his life (his first words upon waking were "Estoy mas flaco??") -- I don't believe that in the USA he would have been considered a good candidate for the surgery. He does not seem to have truly understood the consequences of this permanent procedure, and I've seen the man eat, he has no control. He buys 24 masas for a lunch with 4 people, 3 of whom he knows find them way too sweet to even consider eating, so he keeps them all...

The surgery is going to physically fix him, with a stomach that can only contain about 50ml of food at a time (I believe, I can't remember the stats exactly) -- he will obviously lose weight. But I hope that he gets a psychiatrist assigned to him because I believe he is going to enter a huge depression when he realises the thing that he has used as a coping mechanism is no longer available.