More than 13 million: the figure that embarrasses
The Alliance for Food Health says it clearly: more than 13 million girls, boys and young people between 5 and 19 years old live overweight or obese in Mexico. Thirteen million. Repeat it. It is an epidemic with DNI.
And meanwhile, civil organizations look only to one side: the Ministry of Public Education. They demand, directly, that you stop playing hide-and-seek with transparency and accountability in school food guidelines.
“One year after the mandatory entry into force… there are still gaps in its implementation that prevent a sustained transformation.”
That’s the crux. A year later, the progress is a patch. The application and monitoring processes are as clear as a puddle of mud. And we all know what happens when you don’t watch: the system rots.
The toxic recess menu
It’s not a coincidence. Mexico continues to climb positions on that macabre podium: the first places in the world in childhood obesity. The trend does not stop; it accelerates. And it has a named accomplice: the consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks.
The same poison that, all too often, is sold within educational establishments. The same ones that should be sanctuaries to form habits, not traps to develop diseases.
Organizations do not ask for miracles. They ask for the basics: that access to fruits, vegetables, whole grains and drinking water be guaranteed. That the guidelines are strictly followed, both in the most humble public school and in the most exclusive private school.
His final call is a hammer blow on the table: real training for staff, supervision mechanisms that bite, and total information openness so that we families know what our children really eat.
Because thirteen million is not a statistic. There are thirteen million futures mortgaged by a system that looks the other way. And that truth hurts more than any official figure.




