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Determinants of obesity in Latin America

Nature Metabolism volume 6, pages 409–432 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Obesity rates are increasing almost everywhere in the world, although the pace and timing for this increase differ when populations from developed and developing countries are compared. The sharp and more recent increase in obesity rates in many Latin American countries is an example of that and results from regional characteristics that emerge from interactions between multiple factors. Aware of the complexity of enumerating these factors, we highlight eight main determinants (the physical environment, food exposure, economic and political interest, social inequity, limited access to scientific knowledge, culture, contextual behaviour and genetics) and discuss how they impact obesity rates in Latin American countries. We propose that initiatives aimed at understanding obesity and hampering obesity growth in Latin America should involve multidisciplinary, global approaches that consider these determinants to build more effective public policy and strategies, accounting for regional differences and disease complexity at the individual and systemic levels.

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Fig. 1: Percentage (current and projections) of people with obesity by age and sex in countries at different levels of economic development.
Fig. 2: Determinants of obesity and their interactions.
Fig. 3: Scholarly output versus the percentage of adults with obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) in countries of different geographical regions and at different levels of income.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. de Moraes for helping with the figures. We received funding from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP; 2021/08354-2 to M.A.M.; 2013/07607-8 to M.A.M. and L.A.V.), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (306193/2022-1 to M.A.M.), the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (to M.A.M.), AstraZeneca (to M.A.M.), the Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT; 284771 to Y.M.) and the UNAM DGAPA-PAPIIT (IN207321 to Y.M.).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Sandra Roberta G. Ferreira, Yazmín Macotela.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Sandra Roberta G. Ferreira

  2. Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM Campus-Juriquilla, Querétaro, Mexico

    Yazmín Macotela

  3. Obesity and Comorbidities Research Center, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

    Licio A. Velloso

  4. Institute of Biology, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

    Marcelo A. Mori

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S.R.G.F., Y.M., L.A.V. and M.A.M. wrote the manuscript and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Marcelo A. Mori.

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M.A.M. received funding from AstraZeneca to perform research related to obesity. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Ferreira, S.R.G., Macotela, Y., Velloso, L.A. et al. Determinants of obesity in Latin America. Nat Metab 6, 409–432 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-00977-1

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