Usual Intake of Added Sugars and Saturated Fats Is High while Dietary Fiber Is Low in the Mexican Population

Abstract

Fiber intake is lower and added sugar and saturated fat intakes are higher than recommended for >50% of the Mexican population aged ≥1 y. These results highlight the importance of improving the diets of the overall population to reduce the risk of noncommunicable chronic diseases.

Dietary intake and adequacy of energy and nutrients in Mexican older adults: results from two National Health and Nutrition Surveys

“…Abdominal obesity was observed in over 80% of the OA in both surveys, which, along with excessive intakes of sugar (20.9% of the total energy) and saturated fat (11.6% of the total energy, data not shown) predisposes them to a higher risk of NCDs. 27 Few differences were observed in the consumption of energy and of some nutrients between the inhabitants of urban vs. rural areas in both surveys; in contrast to what was observed in younger Mexican adults, 28 this lack of differences may be determined by factors that are common to the aging process, and which determine their total energy intake, but not the source of that energy. 6 For 2012, the only observed difference was the intake of vitamin A, which was higher in the urban area vs. the rural one; but for 2006, the observed differences were for some essential nutrients and others with a higher risk (sugar) being consumed less in the rural compared to the urban area.…”

Food Sources of Energy and Nutrients in Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children from the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012

“…and the information was then converted to grams and milliliters depending on the type of food or beverage consumed. To improve dietary recall data, the ENSANUT 2012 implemented an automated five-step multiple-pass method and collected data on both weekdays and weekend days [16]. …”

“…Examples include a low prevalence of breastfeeding, low consumption of iron-rich foods, and high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and sweet foods [12,13]. These shortcomings very likely contribute to the imbalanced nutrient intakes reported in recent dietary surveys, including inadequate intakes of iron, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin E, folate, and fiber and excessive intakes of energy, added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium [14,15,16,17,18]. …”

Vitamin D status by sociodemographic factors and body mass index in Mexican women at reproductive age

“…27 The dietary information was gleaned in accordance with the methodology described by López and colleagues. [28][29][30] Those foods that were the main source of dietary VD were identified according to their reported VD content in the food composition tables used by Ensanut 2012. 31 The first 10 foods that contributed more than 10% of VD intake in 24 h were listed in decreasing order.…”