Interview: Better eating habits key to combating obesity, says Mexican official

Improving dietary habits is the key to fighting Mexico's growing rates of obesity and excess weight, an official from the state sugar industry has said.

"Doctors, teachers, parents, we have to set clear rules to help our children take care of themselves, nourish themselves, not eat just any thing," Carlos Rello, director of the Fund of Expropriated Sugar Sector Businesses (FEESA), told Xinhua.

"From our point of view, (it is necessary to) generate all the measures to create a culture where our citizens and their children can properly nourish themselves," said Rello.

Some 60 million Mexicans, more than half the population, are obese or overweight, leading a group of Mexican lawmakers to propose doubling the country's one-peso (0.05 U.S. dollar) tax on sugary drinks, which they say helped cut soda consumption by 6 percent last year.

Raising taxes, said Rello, can be useful when there is a need to "immediately" correct an economic situation, but the obesity epidemic requires a different kind of strategy.

"I believe we should avoid using tax policy to constantly punish one product," said Rello.

"We must advocate for the creation of different public policies to raise awareness about the use, and above all consumption, of diverse products," Rello added.

Proponents of the tax rise agree the measure needs to be accompanied by other steps, but say the tax has been shown to reduce the sale of sugary beverages in Mexico, which has one of the world's highest rates of soda consumption: 162 liters per capita. The global average is 22.2 liters.

The added revenue, they say, can also help fund educational campaigns and public health sector treatments for obesity-related ailments, such as diabetes.

"Sugar is a good thing, not a bad thing. The problem lies in how much you consume," said Rello.

FEESA manages sugar mills that were expropriated by the government in 2001.

Last year, FEESA mills contributed 3.9 percent of the 5.9 million tons of sugar produced in Mexico, according to government figures.

Rello indicated he wasn't against the existing tax on soda, saying that in addition to helping fight obesity, "it's also a policy that supports the country's economic situation."

The soda tax generated more than 18 billion pesos (970 million dollars) in revenue in its first year last year. Endit