This text analyzes the evolution of the excessive food energy supply in Mexico from 1990 to 2013. For each year, the energy and macronutrient requirements of the Mexican population were estimated and contrasted with the per capita energy supply. Discrepancies between requirement and supply were analyzed as a time series. The energy surplus ranged from 700 to 800 kcal per capita per day throughout the studied period and sugar/sweeteners contributed the highest above-requirement energy supply. Lipids excess increased steadily and intensely, mainly due to lipid increases from poultry and pork. Excess energy from alcoholic beverages tended to be concentrated into growing beer consumption. In summary, the energy supply and the corresponding surplus tended to be made up mainly of sugar/sweeteners and meat. This has direct implications for the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases as well as unsustainable use of land, water and energy.
This study seeks to examine the use value conferred on the edible insect Sphenarium purpurascens by consumer segment in the travelling open-air market in the main city of the southern highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico. Consumers were surveyed and classified by monetary income, then segmented into two-stage clusters. Of the 363 individuals surveyed, 79.9% routinely consume S. purpurascens. The top three income quintiles spend 50% more money on S. purpurascens on a weekly basis than the bottom three. In consumer sub-segments of all quintiles, the predominant utility conferred on S. purpurascens is the combination of a satisfying taste and a reproduced consumption habit. Thus, eating S. purpurascens is guided mostly by emotion and tradition; however, the attribution of a nutritional utility to S. purpurascens is an emerging reason that, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent, also influences some consumer segments. Therefore, campaigns to promote and preserve the consumption of S. purpurascens in the urban context studied, which is in the process of a nutritional transition, should consider and strengthen the affective component of anthropo-entomophagy, as well as intrinsic cognitive aspects such as the nutritional composition of edible insects or their low environmental impact.
Objetivo: analizar el significado de la acumulación excesiva de grasa corporal conferido por personas obesas y no obesas adultas ocupadas en dos microempresas con vocación turística pertenecientes al sector terciario en el centro histórico de Mérida, Yucatán. Metodología: en dos grupos sociales urbanos, mediante entrevistas abiertas, se recabaron testimonios, procesados cualitativamente con base en el análisis estructural del relato propuesto por Roland Barthes. Resultados: en migrantes rurales de primera y segunda generación con exceso de peso se identificó una representación mítica de la corpulencia adiposa (CA), designada Gordura y equivalente a salud; pero también usan el término Obesidad y lo vinculan a enfermedad; aunque su propia CA la clasifican como Gordura y por ende se autoevalúan saludables. En las personas sin ascendencia rural el volumen corporal no tiene prioridad como atributo de salud o enfermedad. Limitaciones: se requieren análisis comparativos entre grupos diferenciados en función de su grado de aculturación hacia la modernidad, más allá de la bina urbano-rural. Conclusiones: la movilidad social transgeneracional campo-ciudad puede estar relacionada con una representación mistificada de la CA, idealizada como atributo favorable propio de las clases sociales con posibilidad de consumo abundante de alimentos en entornos pasados de precariedad alimentaria.
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