Coca Cola is Killing Mexicans

How the world’s largest country grapples with their Coke addiction

Credits: Unsplash

Mexico ranks one of the most overweight countries in the world, for both adults and children. Most nutritionists point to an unlikely culprit: the country’s excessive consumption of Cocoa Cola, which is widely recognized as their unofficial national drink.

The country consumes more Coca Cola per capita than any other country in the world, translating to roughly 163 liters, or 43 gallons, per person every year. This is 50 percent more than the United States, which is the second highest consumer of Coke. The company has such a stranglehold on Mexico that it controls three quarters of the soda industry, compared with about a 40 percent share in the U.S. market.

Coca Cola is so deadly that it kills more Mexicans a year than the drug of the same name. The deaths attributed to the drug cartel are estimated to be around 20,000 a year, which is dwarfed by the 70,000 people who die of Type-2 diabetes annually.

There is one region in Mexico where the fizzy beverage is consumed more than any other. In Mexico’s most southern and poorest state, Chiapas, the average person consumes 821 liters a year, or 2.2 liters a day, which is five times the national average. Since the drink is so popular, the majority of children are already consuming it by age 3. This has had…