What's happening in Mexico? Apparently over 69 percent of people there are overweight or obese, why the?

After Nafta was signed in the mid 90´s, new products and fast food restaurants drop like a bomb in Mexico, this change a lot of the good habits of the mexican people. For example the introduction of instant noodle soups imported from the USA, with a high calorie rate and low in everything else became as popular as the traditional corn tortilla, Mac Donald´s open a lot of branches and this food is very popular among kids, other traditions like the filling of the mexican pinatas used to be made with fruits, now they filled with candy and Chocolate.

I live at Chihuahua and the people right here tend to be as you mentioned, I can see the difference as soon I cross into El Paso tx,but i´m sure that we haven't reach the levels of obesity that the USA has, but we are getting there.

The funny part of it is that Mexico has something like 14% of the population living in a state of extreme poverty, that means that 15 million mexicans do not have enough money to satisfy their feeding needs.

yep mexico is now the most overweight country in the world... I think it's because eating healthy is more expensive than eating fried food like quesadillas...

everywhere you look you see food stands selling fried quesadillas and tacos they are dripping in grease...

its easy to give your kids a bag of chips as a snack.

there's a lack of awareness about the importance of healthy eating in mexico and money can also be an issue.. another thing is that most mexicans don't like to drink plain water. if they see you drinking a glass of water they find that strange... WATER WITH NO FLAVOR??

You are mistaken, Alexandurrr. More people are overweight north of our border than they are southward. Here in Tijuana we tend to joke about how fat the pochas are. McDonalds makes for a lousy diet.

"Fueled by the rising popularity of soft drinks and fast food restaurants"

Its cuz of cars.