US No Longer Fattest: Mexico Takes World's Most Obese Title

The U.S. is now longer the fattest country in the world. Our fat seems to have spread to Mexico, making it the world's most obese nation according to a new United Nations report.

According to the report, nearly a third, or 32.8 percent of Mexican adults 20 and older are considered obese. This means that narrowly beat the U.S. which has an obesity rate of 31.8 percent.

By the report's definition, an obese person is someone whose body mass index (BMI) is 30 or over. In addition to 30 percent of Mexican adults being obese, 70 percent are overweight.

At least one North American country was spared from the fat list. Canada didn't make the top 25.

Mexico's obesity might be blamed on rapid urban development and rising income. The citizens have greater access to food, but they're now dealing with obesity and malnourishment.

"The same people who are malnourished are the ones who are becoming obese," Dr. Abelardo Avila, a physician with Mexico's National Nutrition Institute, tells the Global Post. "In the poor classes we have obese parents and malnourished children. The worst thing is the children are becoming programmed for obesity. It's a very serious epidemic."

The number one killer of Mexicans is weight-related diabetes and about one in every six Mexican adults has the disease.

Industrialized agriculture had grown in the country, which means rural families have left the farms and have taken on urban jobs that don't require as much physical labor.

"The result is that for many Mexicans, particularly in urban areas or in the northern states, switching to healthier diets is becoming increasingly difficult," U.N. expert Olivier de Shutter says in a two-year-old report on Mexican agriculture and nutrition.

The current U.N. report comes just before the release of new study showing that obesity levels are continuing to rise in the U.S. and worldwide. The good news is that the U.S. is simultaneously seeing a rapid increase in the amount of citizens who exercise.

Here is the complete list of the most obese countrries according to the prevalence of obesity among adults (% Obesity)