By Selena Hill (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Jul 10, 2013 03:22 PM EDT

The United States is officially no longer the fattest country on this side of the globe. With 21 million clinically obese adults and a 32.8 percent obesity rate, Mexico takes the cake as the most obese country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the chubbiest countries on earth.

The U.S. placed close behind at No. 2 on the list with a 31.8 percent obesity rate, according to a study released last month by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

While almost one third of the Mexican population is obese, about 70 percent of Mexican adults are overweight, and childhood obesity has tripled over a decade, reports CBS News. As a result, adults are increasingly dying from heart disease and diabetes. In 2012, 150,000 Mexicans died from strokes, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure and heart attacks, reports Al Jareeza.

Mexico's obesity problem has emerged due in part to the sedentary lifestyle afforded to an increasingly wealthy and urban population. However, less manual labor and more convenience aren't the only factors driving Mexico's widening obesity issues. Terrible eating habits in the country, especially among the working class, which is disproportionately plagued by the crisis, are also contributing to the growing problem. With almost 50 percent of Mexico's population considered poor, it is the malnourished that are eating themselves into danger.

"The same people who are malnourished are the ones who are becoming obese," physician Abelardo Avila with Mexico's National Nutrition Institute told CBS News. "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."

Barry Popkin, an obesity expert at the University of North Carolina, attributes much of the spike in Mexican obesity to increased consumption of cheap sugary drinks and mass-marketed snack foods, which are replacing home-cooked meals, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, which are more expensive.

The speed at which the average Mexican diet has changed, from meals dominated by maize and beans, to one oversaturated with processed fats and sugars, poses one of the greatest challenges to public health officials.

According to the FAO, several Pacific Island countries and territories have even higher obesity rates than those the U.S. and Mexico: Nauru (71.1 percent), the Cook Islands (64.1 percent), and the Marshall Islands (46.5 percent).

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