Alimentación, nutrición y pobreza: el caso de un grupo de trabajadores de la basura de la Ciudad de México

Abstract

In Mexico City there is a whole social organization around the garbage in response to poverty in where some social groups live. As their survival strategy is based on garbage collection, they also fed with products found there, no matter their origin or status if it can meet their needs. The aims of this study are to describe the food and nutrition terms of a group of garbage workers in order to know their food obtaining strategies and analyze the impact of extreme urban poverty in feeding and nutritional risk. A qualitative and quantitative study was conducted on a group of garbage workers in Mexico City. Socioeconomic and nutritional data were obtained in nine families through observation, interviews, stories of life and feeding and food frequency questionnaires. Nutritional status was determined by anthropometry. The main results show that the population is marginalized with very low income and lack of basic urban services. They are part of an organized social group, part of a clientelist structure in Mexico City, controlled by leaders that distribute garbage collection routes, access to different bins and recycling centers. Most of the studied families get their food from the garbage and the occasional purchase. Anthropometric data revealed that 75%, 85.7% and 100% of preschool, children and adolescents have stunted respectively; while 58.3% of adults are overweight or obese.