Mexican scientists are developing a wearable device that can monitor cholesterol and triglyceride levels based on the viscosity of blood.

The Materials Research Institute, or IIM, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, is working on the wrist monitor, which is still in the prototype phase, to help doctors provide better care to patients.

"The idea is to have a device, like a watch, that can measure the (blood) pressure," but also the cholesterol and triglycerides, researcher Leonardo Moreno Morales said in a statement.

"With this method, it is not necessary to draw the liquid (blood) to obtain the data, a great advantage," Moreno Morales said.

A large segment of Mexico's population has high cholesterol and triglyceride levels linked to a poor diet and obesity.

Doctors now have to run a blood test to measure a patient's cholesterol and triglyceride levels, a step that the wrist monitor would eliminate.

The team working on the monitor includes Moreno; Octavio Manero, the group's leader; Antonio Sanchez; Fausto Calderas; Luis Medina; and Guadalupe Sanchez.

Mexico is the country with the second-largest number of obese adults, trailing only the United States, and ranks No. 1 in childhood obesity, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, study concluded.

Seven of every 10 adults in Mexico are overweight or obese, while 30 percent of children in the 12-19 age group and 29 percent of those in the 5-11 age group suffer from this problem, the Health Secretariat said in a report.

Federal health officials banned soft drink and junk food ads during children's programming hours on television and in theaters in July. EFE