Interestingly, a review of literature indicates that the closer you are to the US (geographically and culturally), the higher your risk of obesity. For example, a 2011 study at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that Mexican children living in households with close or extended family members migrating to the United States for work had a higher chance of becoming overweight or obese than children without migrant networks.

A 2012 study showed that a higher degree of familiarity with US culture, measured by frequency of TV watching in English, was associated with greater obesity risk among Mexican children in Baja California. Although the prevalence of abdominal obesity among adults over 20 in all Mexican states is relatively high (between 61.4 percent and 82.9 percent), the two states with the highest rates, Sonora and Tamaulipas, border the United States.

By contrast, the two states with the lowest rates of abdominal obesity, Oaxaca and Chiapas, are located in very south of Mexico, farthest from the United States. This fact is remarkable: sheer proximity to the United States has a bearing on diet and obesity rates.

Although statistics paint a bleak picture, the Mexican government has taken some steps to address the emerging public health threats within its borders. In 2010, the Mexican government under then-president Felipe Calderón enacted the Ley Antiobesided, or anti-obesity law.

This required physical education in public elementary and middle schools and restricted the amount of calories, salt and fat in foods sold in public schools. Mexican public health officials have criticized this law, however, because it doesn’t ban the consumption of processed food, rather it restricts how processed food is sold and marketed in schools.

All of this leads to the question, how can a country like Mexico go through a nutrition transition without jumping from under-nutrition to over-nutrition? For sure, the solutions need to be multi-faceted. Perhaps a law banning processed food sales entirely from public schools would reduce how much of it students eat during the day. Forward-thinking policy would also subsidize local fruit and vegetable growers and connect them with schools, both supporting local economies and encouraging healthy eating habits among school-aged children.

Although rewriting trade agreements, i.e., NAFTA, would prove a complex and difficult task, it would be in the best interest of Mexico’s public health to reject or revise future trade agreements that allow – or encourage – such an astronomical flow of corn, soy, and meat and dairy products into its market.