1.

The challenge: study the material provided to define the challenge of diabetes in Mexico and identify why
this particular intervention was undertaken.

From the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mexico is the country with the
highest prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), and it´s been found that the incidence is increasing every year, which
is a major concern (1). In the year 2016, it was found that the eldery had an incidence of 27.4% od T2D (3) and the
major risk factors for developing it included having a sedentary lifestyle and being overweight or obese (2).
These concerning figures led the government to implement strategies in order to reduce the incidence of T2D and
the risk factors that determine its development in Mexican citizens. For example, to reduce the prevalence of sugar
consumption, and therefore obesity, additional taxes were applied to sugary drinks (like juices and some carbonated
beverages) that exceeded the recommended amount of sugar per serving. This intervention caused a reduction of
11.6% of the consumption of sugary beverages after a 10% increase in their prices and was specially lower in low-
income areas and marginalized ones (4).

References:

1. WHO Global report on diabetes 2016.ISBN 978 92 4 156525 7

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/204871/9789241565257_eng.pdf?sequence=1
2. Number of diabetes deaths [Internet]. Available from:
https://www.who.int/diabetes/country-profiles/mex_en.pdf
3. Rojas-Martínez, Rosalba, Basto-Abreu, Ana, Aguilar-Salinas, Carlos A, Zárate-Rojas, Emiliano,
Villalpando, Salvador, Barrientos-Gutiérrez, Tonatiuh. (2018). Prevalencia de diabetes por diagnóstico
médico previo en México. Salud Pública de México, 60(3), 224-232. https://doi.org/10.21149/8566
4. Colchero MA, Salgado JC, Unar-Munguía M, Hernández-Ávila M, Rivera-Dommarco JA. Price elasticity
of the demand for sugar sweetened beverages and soft drinks in Mexico. Econ Hum Biol. 2015
Dec;19:129-37. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2015.08.007. Epub 2015 Sep 5. PMID: 26386463.
 2. The impact of the intervention: review the material provided that assesses the impact of the intervention,
synthesizing your findings in a short conclusion that would be suitable for a policy maker.

The study titled “Beverages Sales in Mexico before and after Implementation of a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax”
from 2016 estimated the changes in sales of sugar sweetened beverages and plain water after a 1 peso per liter excise
SSB tax was implemented in Mexico in January 2014, by using sales data from the Monthly Surveys of the
Manufacturing Industry from January 2007 to December 2015. The authors found that, in comparison to the pre-tax
period (2007-2013), the per capita sales of sugar sweetened beverages decreased in 7.3%, while per capita sales of
plain water increased in 5.2%. They concluded that implementation of the tax could have an impact on health and
greater impacts on consumption may be achieved if the tax was increased (1).

On the other hand, the study “Expected population weight and diabetes impact of the 1-peso-per-litre tax to sugar
sweetened beverages in Mexico” aimed to estimate the expected impact of the tax on body weight and on the
prevalence of overweight, obesity and diabetes in Mexico. For this, the authors used sales reduction estimates, long-
term models of change in BMI, and microsimulations based on the national database (2).

Both studies show reliable analysis methods and data, since they based their analysis on primary sources, like the
Monthly Surveys of the Manufacturing Industry. Furthermore, both studies achieved the demonstration of reduction
in sales of SSBs, however, the second study accomplished to also demonstrate the health effects of this intervention,
in contrast to the first study mentioned.

References:
1. Colchero MA, Guerrero-López CM, Molina M, Rivera JA (2016) Beverages Sales in Mexico before and
after Implementation of a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax. PLOS ONE 11(9):
e0163463. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163463 
2. Barrientos-Gutierrez T, Zepeda-Tello R, Rodrigues ER, Colchero-Aragonés A, Rojas-Martínez R, et al.
(2017) Expected population weight and diabetes impact of the 1-peso-per-litre tax to sugar sweetened
beverages in Mexico. PLOS ONE 12(5):e0176336.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176336