Unusually high prevalence rates of obesity in four Mexican rural communities

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Abstract
Objective: To establish the nutritional status of previously studied rural populations. Design and subjects: A total of 139 households with 245 males and 301 females from four relatively isolated Mexican rural communities were randomly selected to be surveyed in 1996. Results: Underweight was not a problem in either children or adults. In children 50 y by 2.0 units; the male data were essentially unchanged. The prevalence of abdominal obesity in women, based on waist measurements and WHO cut-off points was high with 25% of women having elevated values despite a normal BMI; 43% of the overweight women had substantial increases in waist measurements, indicative of high risk, as did 91% of obese women. The men's waist measurements were greater in relation to both BMI and body fat but the prevalence of values in excess of the suggested sex-specific WHO limits was less than half that of women. Conclusions: The high prevalence of overweight and obesity is now evident in poor and relatively isolated rural communities of Mexico. Sponsorship: The Chronic Disease Office, from the Ministry of Health in Mexico partially financed this study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001) 55, 833–840