Coca-cola colonizes Mexico

"Coca-colonization."

That's what two researchers are calling the transformation of remote areas of other countries into junk-food-eating communities.

In their 2004 study in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Thomas Leatherman and Alan Goodman, researched how tourism brought about this change in eating habits. Coca-cola, a U.S. icon, has an especially pervasive presence in the Mayan communities that are now tourist areas, according to their research.

Changing community

Tourism now supports these Mayan communities and provides jobs for their residents. Many of the residents are construction workers, tour guides or maids.

The Mayan people realize how tourism has changed their community, according to the article. They also realize how important tourism is to providing them with jobs.

But without as many people working on local farmland, the Mayans don't eat as much local produce. Instead they turn to the unhealthy snacks and sodas brought to big and small stores in the area at least once a week.

'Comidas chatarras'

The Spanish name for all the junk food the Mayans now eat is "comidas chatarras." The malnutrition of the Mayans has led to stunted growth and obesity.

In their survey of the eating habits of the community, Leatherman and Goodman found:

• overall child growth has grown in the past decade, but child growth has been somewhat stunted
• children were overweight considering their weight and height, but no children were obese
• 86 % of urban women are overweight
• 50% of urban women are obese
• diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in Yucatan

The researchers speculate that a Yucatan population that is already overweight and obese will only continue to have those problems because the children don't have good nutrition and are overweight.

No say

The Mayan people are being used for cheap labor at the tourist attractions and "only set an ethnic backdrop at tourist sites," Leatherman and Goodman say.

They suggest that one way to improve the health of the Mayan people is to let them have a say in the government bodies.