Objective To examine changes in categories of soft drink consumption in a cohort of Mexican adults, three years after the implementation of the sugar sweetened beverage tax. Design Open cohort longitudinal analysis. Setting Three waves of the Health Workers Cohort Study, Mexico, spanning 2004 to 2018. Participants 1770 people aged 19 years or older with information on drinks consumption available in at least one of the three cohort waves. Main outcome measure Change in probability of belonging to one of four categories of soft drinks consumption (non, low, medium, high) after the tax was implemented. Heterogeneity of associations by income and education was also assessed. Results Before the implementation of the tax, more than 50% of the participants were medium and high consumers of soft drinks and less than 10% were in the non-consumer category. After the tax was implemented, 43% of the population was categorised as medium or high consumers and the prevalence of non-consumers increased to 14%. Three years after implementation of the tax on 1 January 2014, the probability of being a non-consumer of soft drinks increased by 4.7 (95% confidence interval 0.3 to 9.1) percentage points and that of being a low consumer increased by 8.3 (0.6 to 16.0) percentage points compared with the pre-tax period. Conversely, the probability of being in the medium and high levels of soft drinks consumption decreased by 6.8 (0.5 to 13.2) percentage points and 6.1 (0.4 to 11.9) percentage points, respectively. No significant heterogeneity of the tax across income levels was observed, but stronger effects of the tax were seen in participants with secondary school education or higher, compared with those with elementary school or less. Conclusions The Mexican sugar sweetened beverage tax was associated with a reduction in the probability of consuming soft drinks in this cohort of employees from a healthcare provider. The results cannot be extrapolated to the Mexican population, but they suggest that three years after implementation, the tax had helped to increase the proportion of people who do not consume soft drinks while decreasing the proportion of high and medium consumers.

Background In October 2019, Mexico approved a law to establish that nonalcoholic beverages and packaged foods that exceed a threshold for added calories, sugars, fats, trans fat, or sodium should have an "excess of" warning label. We aimed to estimate the expected reduction in the obesity prevalence and obesity costs in Mexico by introducing warning labels, over 5 years, among adults under 60 years of age.

Seroprevalence surveys provide estimates of the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the population, regardless of disease severity and test availability. In Mexico in 2020, COVID-19 cases reached a maximum in July and December. We aimed to estimate the national and regional seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies across demographic and socioeconomic groups in Mexico after the first wave, from August to November 2020. We used nationally representative survey data including 9,640 blood samples. Seroprevalence was estimated by socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, adjusting by the sensitivity and specificity of the immunoassay test. The national seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 24.9% (95%CI 22.2, 26.7), being lower for adults 60 years and older. We found higher seroprevalence among urban and metropolitan areas, low socioeconomic status, low education and workers. Among seropositive people, 67.3% were asymptomatic. Social distancing, lockdown measures and vaccination programs need to consider that vulnerable groups are more exposed to the virus and unable to comply with lockdown measures.

Background Evidence suggests low-grade inflammation as the cause of metabolic syndrome and suggests diet as a promoter of chronic inflammation. Objective We evaluated the association between inflammatory diets and the development of metabolic syndrome in Mexican adults. Methods A total of 399 participants of the Health Workers Cohort Study were included in this study. The follow-up period was 13 y. Metabolic syndrome definition was the presence of ≥3 of the following components: waist circumference ≥102 cm for males or ≥88 cm for females, blood pressure ≥130 mmHg for systolic or ≥85 mmHg for diastolic, HDL cholesterol <40 mg/dL for males and <50 mg/dL for females; triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL, and glucose ≥100 mg/dL. To evaluate the inflammatory potential of the diet we used the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), which was divided into quartiles. To assess the risk of metabolic syndrome we estimated HRs and 95% CIs using Cox proportional hazards models. Results After adjustment for potential confounders, we found a positive association between participants in the highest quartile (Q) of DII and the incidence of metabolic syndrome (HRQ4vsQ1 = 1.99; 95% CI: 1.03, 3.85; P-trend = 0.04) over a period of 13 y. When we divided the metabolic syndrome by its components, we found that participants in the highest quartile of DII were associated with hypertriglyceridemia (HRQ4vsQ1 = 2.28; 95% CI: 1.13, 4.57; P-trend = 0.01), hypertension (HRQ4vsQ1 = 2.22; 95% CI: 1.03, 4.77; P-trend = 0.032), and abdominal obesity (HRQ4vsQ1 = 2.68; 95% CI: 1.06, 6.79; P-trend = 0.02). Conclusions A highly inflammatory diet is associated with metabolic syndrome, hypertension, abdominal obesity, and hypertriglyceridemia. Further studies are needed to corroborate the role of inflammation and diet in the development of metabolic syndrome; yet, a reduction in dietary components that have been linked to inflammation is desirable.

SummaryBackgroundIn Mexico, a 10% tax to sugar‐sweetened beverages was implemented in 2014. Projections of the potential health effect of this tax in children are not available.ObjectiveTo estimate the 1‐year effect of the tax on the body weight of children 5 to 17 years old, and estimated alternative scenarios with higher tax rates (20%, 30%, and 40%).MethodsWe used a dynamical mathematical model, recalibrated to the Mexican population. Input data were obtained from the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2006 and 2012. We estimated the expected average weight reduction, stratified by category of sugar‐sweetened beverages consumption.ResultsWith a 10% tax, we estimated an overall weight reduction of 0.26 kg for children and 0.61 kg for adolescents; in high consumers, the reduction could reach 0.50 and 0.87 kg, respectively. Higher tax rates would produce larger weight decreases; in high consumers a 40% tax would result in a reduction of 1.99 kg for children and 3.50 kg for adolescents.ConclusionThe tax represents an effective component of any child or adolescent weight control program, and must be considered as part of any integrated population‐level program for children and adolescent obesity prevention.