Neurohealth Perspective
Prepared By: Sirichandana Yakkala | Farmacon Global
Executive Summary
- Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is home to over 650 million people navigating a paradox: abundant food production alongside persistent malnutrition and a rapidly escalating burden of chronic disease (Rivera et al., 2019).
- The region’s nutritional supplement market reached USD $51.32 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $82.17 billion by 2030, driven by rising health consciousness, urban expansion, and unmet metabolic health needs (Grand View Research, 2025).
- Despite a fourth consecutive year of declining undernourishment, 181.9 million people (27.4% of the LAC population) still cannot afford a healthy diet (PAHO/WHO, 2026).
- The Latin American clinical trials market is valued at USD $2.17 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $3.23 billion by 2029, with Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina leading the region in registered studies (Parexel, 2024).
- Micronutrient deficiencies, particularly B vitamins, vitamin D, zinc, and magnesium, have been identified as critical upstream drivers of cognitive decline across the region (Nogueira et al., 2025).
- Latin America is emerging as a global leader in neuro-data rights legislation, with Chile, Mexico, and Brazil developing constitutional and statutory protections for brain data (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024).
- The intersection of nutrition, brain health, and clinical research infrastructure creates a distinct opportunity and responsibility for companies like Farmacon to operate with both scientific rigor and ethical grounding.
What’s True: The Data on Health in Latin America
The Double Burden of Malnutrition
Latin America’s health challenge is not simple to characterize. The region simultaneously grapples with undernutrition, particularly in rural and indigenous communities, and a rapid rise in obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease driven by the “nutrition transition”: a shift toward processed, calorie-dense foods with diminished micronutrient value (Rivera et al., 2019). Most LAC countries are well underway in this transition and face a large public health burden as a result.
According to the 2025 PAHO/WHO Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition, undernourishment affected 5.1% of the LAC population in 2024, down from a peak of 6.1% in 2020, a meaningful improvement. Yet 181.9 million people (27.4%) still could not afford a healthy diet in 2024, with affordability gaps falling disproportionately on women and rural communities (PAHO/WHO, 2026).
At the other end of the spectrum, the four major non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular disease, most cancers, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease, are projected to account for approximately 81% of deaths in LAC by 2030 (Martins and Sabate, 2022). Obesity has risen steeply across the region, with 160 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) globally attributable to obesity annually as of 2019 (Advances in Nutrition, 2024).
This double burden, the coexistence of undernutrition and overnutrition, is not a contradiction. It reflects the structural inequality that defines health access across the region.
Nutrition and Brain Health: An Emerging Frontier
The connection between diet and brain health is no longer speculative; it is supported by a growing body of regional evidence. A 2025 expert consensus statement by researchers from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico concluded that cognitive aging in Latin America is significantly influenced by widespread micronutrient inadequacies, including vitamins B-complex, C, D, and E, and minerals such as zinc, magnesium, chromium, copper, iron, and selenium. The consensus identified these deficiencies as critical for global cognitive functioning (Nogueira et al., 2025).
Dementia prevalence in LAC among adults over 60 is estimated to be higher than any other world region, according to multiple systematic reviews (Fox et al., 2023). Social determinants, including low educational attainment, food insecurity, and limited healthcare access, compound these neurological vulnerabilities (Ibanez and Migeot, 2025). Improvements in education, nutrition, and healthcare have contributed to dementia prevalence declining in some countries, yet the overall burden in Latin America remains stubbornly high (Fox et al., 2023).
This body of evidence points toward a clear implication for clinical research: nutrition is not peripheral to neurohealth trials. It is upstream of them.
The Affordability and Access Gap
Even as commercial nutrition markets expand, access remains deeply unequal. Countries including Costa Rica, Brazil, Guyana, and Uruguay have achieved hunger prevalence below 2.5%, while other nations, particularly in Central America and the Caribbean, continue to struggle (PAHO/WHO, 2026). Data sovereignty over nutrition surveillance is itself a gap: significant portions of the LAC region lack nationally representative data on micronutrient status, meaning the full picture of nutrition-related brain health risk remains understudied.
This data gap is itself a structural problem. Research cannot address what it cannot see.
Market Map: Key Players by Country & Category
Brazil
Brazil is the largest pharmaceutical and clinical research market in Latin America. As of April 2024, Brazil leads the region with approximately 10,000 registered clinical studies on ClinicalTrials.gov (Parexel, 2024). Its regulatory agency, ANVISA, governs clinical trial approvals, and a landmark Clinical Research Law (14.874/24), released in August 2024, is actively streamlining regulatory timelines and strengthening the country’s global competitiveness in research (Parexel, 2024).
In nutrition, Brazil hosts major domestic players as well as global companies including Nestle, Danone, and Unilever, which maintain significant market and R&D presence. Brazil is the dominant market in the regional clinical nutrition segment, projected to lead LATAM in market share through 2033 (Reed Intelligence, 2025).
Key institutions: ANVISA (regulatory agency); ABRACRO (CRO industry association); Intrials (local full-service CRO, founded 1999, with over 550 studies managed); IQVIA Brazil operations (Intrials, n.d.; Parexel, 2024).
Mexico
Mexico is the second-largest market for clinical research in LATAM, with approximately 5,000 registered studies on ClinicalTrials.gov (Parexel, 2024). Its regulatory agency, COFEPRIS, has decentralized operations and reduced approval timelines from six to eight months down to approximately four months (bioaccess, 2022). Mexico accounted for 2.82% of the global clinical nutrition market in 2024 (Reed Intelligence, 2025).
Mexico is also at the legislative frontier of neuro-data rights. As of early 2024, two pending constitutional bills seek to enshrine mental privacy protections, modeled in part on Chile’s constitutional amendment (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024).
Key institutions: COFEPRIS (regulatory agency); Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatria Ramon de la Fuente.
Colombia
Colombia has emerged as a fast-growing clinical research market, with INVIMA (Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de Medicamentos y Alimentos) as its regulatory body. In 2019, Colombia hosted 60 industry-sponsored clinical trials representing over $60 million in foreign investment, with projections suggesting capacity for over 100 new trials annually and up to $500 million in economic impact per year (bioaccess, 2022). Colombia is also identified as the fastest-growing clinical nutrition market in LATAM, projected to reach $327.79 million by 2033 (Reed Intelligence, 2025).
Key institutions: INVIMA (regulatory agency); Asociacion Colombiana de Centros de Investigacion Clinica (ACIC).
Argentina
Argentina has approximately 4,000 registered clinical studies (Parexel, 2024) and a mature research infrastructure governed by ANMAT. Buenos Aires is home to major research hospitals, academic medical centers, and institutions contributing to neuroscience and nutrition research. Argentina is a key market for both global and regional nutrition companies.
Chile
Chile has been a pioneer in both food policy and neuro-data rights legislation. Its front-of-package warning label law, implemented in 2016, was among the first in the world and has since influenced policy across the region (Rivera et al., 2019). Chile’s Constitution is also the first in the world to explicitly recognize neurorights, establishing legal protections for mental privacy, cognitive liberty, and mental integrity (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024). Chile’s regulatory body is the ISP, and its academic neuroscience community is producing internationally significant research on dementia and cognitive aging in LATAM populations (Fox et al., 2023).
Peru, Bolivia, and Central America
Data availability for clinical research activity in Bolivia, Peru, and Central America is more limited; the following reflects the available public record.
Peru’s DIGEMID governs drug and device regulation, and the country has growing clinical research activity. Bolivia, along with much of Central America, remains more nascent in terms of clinical research infrastructure, with higher proportions of rural populations facing significant diagnostic and referral barriers. Guatemala hosts INCAP (Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama), a regionally important nutrition research institution. Access to specialty care and clinical trial sites is concentrated in capital cities throughout this subregion, and rural and indigenous communities face compound barriers to participation in formal health systems.
The Clinical Research Ecosystem: Infrastructure and Readiness
The LATAM clinical trials market is growing rapidly, from $2.17 billion in 2024 to a projected $3.23 billion by 2029, a compound annual growth rate of 8.2% (Parexel, 2024). This growth is driven by several structural advantages.
Patient population diversity: LAC’s demographic breadth, spanning multiple ethnicities, age structures, and socioeconomic backgrounds, provides a valuable pool for generalizable clinical evidence (bioaccess, 2022).
Treatment-naive patients: Drug shortages and limited access to branded therapies mean LATAM populations are more frequently treatment-naive, providing cleaner baseline data for novel interventions (bioaccess, 2022).
Cost-effectiveness: Operational costs for clinical trials in LATAM are materially lower than in the United States or Western Europe, without sacrificing investigator quality. LATAM investigators average seven years of experience and frequently receive training in the United States or Europe (bioaccess, 2022).
Time zone alignment: Proximity to the United States reduces coordination friction for North American sponsors (Parexel, 2024).
Key CRO ecosystem players include IQVIA, Parexel (which has partnered with ABRACRO in Brazil and advocates for regulatory advancement through that relationship), ICON (the first global CRO to establish LATAM operations, now active in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru), Intrials (a Brazil-founded full-service CRO with over 25 years of regional experience, specializing in oncology, rare diseases, and immunology across six LATAM countries), and Cohortias (a locally focused CRO with operations in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia) (Intrials, n.d.; Parexel, 2024; bioaccess, 2022).
Persistent challenges include regulatory heterogeneity across countries, limited clinical infrastructure in rural and peri-urban areas, site-readiness variability for specialized protocols particularly those requiring neuroimaging, and talent retention pressures as experienced investigators face global competition (bioaccess, 2022).
For neurohealth trials specifically, the referral pathway from primary care to neurology is a critical bottleneck. Tertiary neurological care is heavily concentrated in capital cities. Diagnostic tools such as MRI, cognitive assessment batteries, and specialist neurologist evaluation are constrained at smaller and newer sites. This is a key operational risk for Phase 2 and Phase 3 neurohealth programs expanding into new LATAM geographies.
Data Sovereignty and the Rise of Neurorights
Perhaps the most forward-looking dimension of the LATAM health landscape is the region’s evolving posture on data governance, and specifically on health and neuro-data.
At the 2024 CPDP LatAm conference, panelists emphasized that data sovereignty and data governance should be central values in the development and regulation of technologies, empowering both nations and individuals (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024). Panelists cautioned that technologies developed without governance frameworks leave both individuals and countries vulnerable to extractive data models. Data governance was identified as a recurring theme for G20 debates, with regulators playing an increasingly critical role in the sustainable and ethical development of technology (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024).
Latin America has become a global frontrunner in neurorights legislation specifically:
Chile (2021) became the first country in the world to constitutionally protect mental integrity, mental privacy, cognitive liberty, and psychological continuity. Mexico has two pending constitutional bills that would formalize neurorights, modeled closely on Chilean language, including requirements for the state to respect mental privacy and integrity, informed consent before access to neurodata, and anti-discrimination measures (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024). Brazil has pending legislation addressing neuro-data protection. Uruguay’s parliament has engaged in active discussions with Chilean counterparts on neurorights frameworks (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024).
For clinical research organizations operating in neurohealth, these developments are not compliance footnotes. They represent a structural shift in the legal and ethical terrain of working with brain-related data in LATAM. Sponsors and CROs must anticipate that participant consent frameworks, data transfer protocols, and neuroimaging data storage practices will face increasing regulatory scrutiny across the region.
Farmacon’s positioning around ethical oversight and data sovereignty is directly responsive to this shift.
Opportunities and Risks
Opportunities
Nutrition as upstream intervention: The evidence linking micronutrient status to cognitive health creates a compelling rationale for integrating nutrition company partnerships into neurohealth trial design and patient preparation (Nogueira et al., 2025; Fox et al., 2023). Scalable point-of-use fortification solutions, micronutrient powders (MNPs) formulated specifically around the B-vitamin, zinc, iron, and vitamin D profile identified in that literature, represent a concrete, low-barrier entry point for companies seeking to address this gap at the population level.
Underserved populations as research priority: Rural, indigenous, and low-income LATAM populations are systematically underrepresented in clinical evidence. Inclusive trial design that prioritizes these populations is both scientifically stronger and ethically necessary (Ibanez and Migeot, 2025).
Regulatory momentum: New laws in Brazil and streamlined processes in Mexico and Colombia are reducing the operational friction that previously deterred LATAM trial investment (Parexel, 2024; bioaccess, 2022).
Regional brain health infrastructure: Academic institutions in Chile, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina are producing internationally recognized research on neurodegeneration in LATAM populations, offering genuine scientific partnership opportunities beyond simple site access (Fox et al., 2023).
Risks
Extractive models: The history of global health research in low- and middle-income countries includes documented patterns of data extraction, collecting patient-level data for publications and registrations with minimal return of benefit to participating populations. This is a reputational and ethical risk for any operator in the space (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024).
Rural dropout: Urban-centric site selection inflates estimates of reachable patient populations. Patients in peri-urban or rural settings face travel burdens, caregiver requirements, and financial barriers that systematically drive dropout, particularly for protocols requiring frequent visits.
Diagnostic bottlenecks: In many LATAM countries, the average time from symptom onset to confirmed neurological diagnosis can span one to three years. For enrollment-dependent timelines, this is a structural risk that must be factored into feasibility assumptions (Fox et al., 2023).
Regulatory heterogeneity: No single regulatory framework governs the region. ANVISA, COFEPRIS, INVIMA, ANMAT, ISP, and DIGEMID each maintain distinct requirements, timelines, and submission norms. Multi-country LATAM expansion compounds this complexity considerably (bioaccess, 2022; Parexel, 2024).
Neurorights compliance: As brain-data legislation matures across Chile, Mexico, and Brazil, research programs that did not build consent and data governance frameworks for neuro-data from the outset will face costly retrofits (Future of Privacy Forum, 2024).
Farmacon’s Perspective
Farmacon Global supports international nutraceutical and pharmaceutical companies entering Latin American markets, providing regulatory navigation, market access strategy, and clinical research oversight across Mexico, Brazil, and the broader region. We operate at the intersection where these forces converge, and our work in clinical research operations, ethical oversight, and health system engagement in LATAM is grounded in a conviction that the region’s growing research infrastructure must be matched by equally robust ethical and data governance frameworks.
We believe that nutrition is not peripheral to neurohealth. It is upstream of it. Addressing micronutrient gaps, food system inequities, and dietary access barriers is part of the same system that determines who develops neurological disease, who is diagnosed, who reaches a trial site, and who benefits from research outcomes.
As we deepen our presence in LATAM, our priorities are clear: rigorous, citation-backed analysis; partnerships with institutions that share ethical commitments; and frameworks, like our Early-Stage Clinical Trial Execution Risk Framework, that make invisible risks visible before they become enrollment failures.
The opportunity in LATAM is real. So is the responsibility.
Conclusion: Evidence to Intervention
The research documented in this paper builds a clear case. Micronutrient deficiency, particularly in B vitamins, zinc, iron, vitamin D, and magnesium, is not a background variable in LATAM’s neurological disease burden. It is a primary, modifiable driver. And with 181.9 million people across the region still unable to afford a healthy diet (PAHO/WHO, 2026), the pathway to addressing this deficit cannot rely on dietary overhaul alone. The intervention needs to be affordable, food-agnostic, and scalable.
That is precisely what the micronutrient powder format addresses. Originally developed by Dr. Stanley Zlotkin as “Nutritional Sprinkles” in 1998, MNP technology allows essential vitamins and minerals to be added to any food at the point of preparation, without altering taste, without requiring changes to food access, and at a fraction of the cost of equivalent dietary reform. Cochrane systematic review evidence across 29 studies and 33,147 children confirms that MNP supplementation significantly reduces iron deficiency, reduces anemia prevalence, and improves hemoglobin concentration, with the formula validated across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean (Suchdev et al., as cited in Nutreo/Vitamix, 2024). Clinical evidence reviewed in a broader systematic review of multi-micronutrient food fortification found consistent improvements in memory, attention, and concentration alongside hematological outcomes, across multiple countries and age groups (Best et al., as cited in Nutreo/Vitamix, 2024).
Farmacon is currently partnering with Nutreo to bring their Vitamix product to Latin American markets. Vitamix is a 1g sachet containing 10 vitamins and 5 minerals, formulated to target exactly the micronutrient profile identified in the Nogueira et al. (2025) consensus statement: iron, zinc, vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B12, C, D3, and E, alongside copper, selenium, and iodine. The formula has been studied across 10 countries and is designed for use across the lifespan, with data showing coverage of 100% of daily iron requirements, 143% of zinc requirements, and meaningful contributions to B-complex vitamins for children aged one to five years. Nutreo’s own economic modeling in Colombia found that MNP use could reduce the daily cost of nutritionally adequate eating by an estimated 17.5%, representing more than $100 per month in savings for a family of four.
This is not a peripheral supplement story. It is a systems-level intervention at the exact upstream node that the neurological and nutritional evidence identifies as critical. For partners, policymakers, and clinicians seeking a concrete, evidence-based tool to reduce the cognitive burden of micronutrient deficiency across Latin America, Vitamix represents a validated, scalable, and ethical starting point. Learn more at nutreo.co/vitamix.
References (APA Format)
Advances in Nutrition. (2024). Quantifying overlapping forms of malnutrition across Latin America: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis of prevalence estimates. Advances in Nutrition, 15(5), 100212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100212
bioaccess. (2022, June 7). Latin America: A compelling region to conduct your clinical trials. Clinical Leader. https://www.clinicalleader.com/doc/latin-america-a-compelling-region-to-conduct-your-clinical-trials-0001
Fox, S., Leon, T., Mariano, L., Arshad, F., Magrath Guimet, N., Hope, G., Tituana, K., & Zapata-Restrepo, L. M. (2023). Perspectives on brain health and dementia prevention in Latin America: Challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Dementia. https://doi.org/10.3389/frdem.2023.1275641
Future of Privacy Forum. (2024, March 20). Privacy and the rise of “neurorights” in Latin America. https://fpf.org/blog/privacy-and-the-rise-of-neurorights-in-latin-america/
Future of Privacy Forum. (2024). CPDP LatAm 2024: What is top of mind in Latin American data protection and privacy? https://fpf.org/blog/cpdp-latam-2024-what-is-top-of-mind-in-latin-american-data-protection-and-privacy-from-data-sovereignty-to-pets/
Grand View Research. (2025). Latin America nutritional supplements market report, 2030. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/latin-america-nutrition-dietary-supplements-market
Ibanez, A., & Migeot, J. (2025). Social exposome and brain health outcomes of dementia across Latin America. Alzheimer’s and Dementia. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz70856_097406
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Martins, M. C. T., & Sabate, J. (2022). Editorial: The impact of dietary changes on non-communicable diseases in Latin America. Frontiers in Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.881676
Nogueira, J., Cano, C., Ramos, L. R., et al. (2025). Role of micronutrient supplementation in promoting cognitive healthy aging in Latin America: Evidence-based consensus statement. Nutrients. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12348371/
PAHO/WHO. (2026, February 27). UN report: Latin America and the Caribbean advances in eradicating hunger for the fourth consecutive year. https://www.paho.org/en/news/27-2-2026-report-latin-america-and-caribbean-advances-eradicating-hunger-fourth-consecutive
PAHO/WHO. (2026). Latin America and the Caribbean regional overview of food security and nutrition 2025: Statistics and trends. https://www.paho.org/en/documents/latin-america-and-caribbean-regional-overview-food-security-and-nutrition-2025-statistics
Parexel. (2024). LATAM: A model for FSP success. https://www.parexel.com/insights/article/latam-a-model-for-fsp-success
Reed Intelligence. (2025). Mexico clinical nutrition market size, share and growth report. https://reedintelligence.com/insights/clinical-nutrition-market/mexico
Rivera, J. A., Barquera, S., & Gonzalez-Cossio, T. (as cited in). The food environment in Latin America: A systematic review with a focus on environments relevant to obesity and related chronic diseases. Public Health Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980019002854
This post was prepared by Farmacon Global as part of ongoing landscape research into health systems, clinical operations, and ethical practice in Latin America. Citations follow APA format. All market projections are sourced from identified reports.
