Mexico consumes 166 liters of soft drink per person per year —the largest record in the world— and millions of adults and children start the day without breakfast or with a sugary drink in hand.

Two morning habits that medical evidence and official surveys directly link to the epidemic of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular death that today defines the country’s health profile.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) Continues 2023, 73% of Mexican adults consume sweetened beverages on a regular basis. Seven out of ten children and adolescents drink soda daily, even at breakfast, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

In parallel, skipping the first meal of the day has become normalized among adults who rush to work and young people who prioritize sleep over food.

What happens to the body when you skip breakfast

The body spends between eight and ten hours fasting overnight. When you do not receive food when you wake up, activates compensatory mechanisms: increases insulin resistance, increases the tone of the sympathetic nervous system and deregulates the hormonal cycle that controls hunger and satiety, warns the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).

The result is not a reduction in calories, but the opposite effect: intense mid-morning hunger, cravings for foods high in sugar and fat, and a tendency to overeat at subsequent meals. The calorie deficit from breakfast is rarely sustained; moves and amplifies in the afternoon or evening.

When this morning fast is combined with a sugary drink—the most common pattern in Mexican homes—the damage is enhanced. The high fructose sugar present in industrial soft drinks triggers fat production in the liver, raises triglycerides, promotes insulin resistance and inflames the arteries, according to a meta-analysis of 22 prospective studies with more than 1.2 million people, published in PMC/NIH in 2024 and led by researchers from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

An analysis published in the journal Nutrients, available in the PubMed Central repository of the United States National Institute of Healthexamined nine studies with more than 118,000 participants. The conclusions are precise: those who skip breakfast on a regular basis have 10% increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome —abdominal obesity, high glucose, high blood pressure and altered cholesterol—compared to those who eat breakfast regularly.

The specific documented risks are:

17% more likely to accumulate abdominal fat

21% increased risk of hypertension

26% increased risk of hyperglycemia, a precursor to type 2 diabetes

13% more than dyslipidemia, that is, disorder in cholesterol and triglyceride levels

Skipping breakfast regularly in Mexico is associated with a 26% higher risk of hyperglycemia and a 21% higher probability of developing hypertension, according to the analysis of 118,000 people published in Nutrients. Combined with the morning consumption of soft drinks—a practice documented in seven out of ten Mexican minors—the pattern is one of the main risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the country.

As for soda, each additional daily serving of sugary drink increases cardiovascular risk between 8% and 19%. Those who consume two or more servings a day have 31% increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who consume them less than once a month, according to an analysis of more than 100,000 participants cited in the same database.

The Ensanut Continua 2020-2024 records that the 74.9% of Mexican adults 20 years or older lives with overweight or obesity. The problem also affects minors: 40.1% of adolescents from 12 to 19 years old and 36.5% of children from 5 to 11 years old have the same condition.

The deadly consequences are already documented by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI): In 2024, 192,563 people died from cardiovascular diseases and 112,641 from diabetes mellitus in the country. One in three new cases of diabetes and one in seven new diagnoses of cardiovascular diseases in Mexico are directly attributed to the consumption of sugary drinks, according to data presented by the Ministry of Health.

Those who maintain a high consumption of these products can lose up to ten years of healthy life, facing complications such as chronic kidney failure, fatty liver and non-alcoholic cirrhosis, warned the Secretary of Health David Kershenobich.

In the last four decades, the Mexican diet has shifted from fresh, unprocessed foods to ultra-processed products high in sugar, salt and fat. By 2016, 23.1% of the total energy in the diet of Mexicans already came from ultra-processed foods, and sugary drinks were the main source of added sugars, according to the study led by Simon Barqueradirector of the Nutrition and Health Research Center (CINyS) of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP).

The IMSS proposes distributing intake into four or five light meals a day and ensuring that breakfast provides between 20% and 35% of daily energy. The first meal should include cereals with fiber, fruits, vegetables and quality proteins such as eggs, legumes or lean meat.

Fiber plays an additional role: it feeds gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids and neurotransmitter precursors. Without that fermentation, intestinal inflammation increases and the bacterial genera associated with protection against infections decrease, according to Nutrients research. The Ministry of Health recommends between 25 and 38 grams of fiber daily for adults, depending on sex and age.

Kershenobich also warned about “light” or “zero” drinks: far from being a harmless alternative, they alter the intestinal microbiota and increase the risk of heart attacks and cerebral hemorrhages.

The consumption of 166 liters of soft drink per year per person is equivalent to drinking a 600 milliliter bottle of water daily. 15 tablespoons of sugaraccording to the Ministry of Health. In Yucatán the average amounts to 240 liters per person, and in Chiapas it exceeds 800 liters, according to data from the organization The Power of the Consumer.