According to a new study, people who live near fast food restaurants have a higher risk of stroke than those who do not live near such a restaurant. The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Michigan and focused on various areas of Nueces County, Texas.

Fast food consumption has previously been linked to higher rates of heart disease and organ damage. In this latest study tying fast food restaurants to cardiovascular ills, researchers studying neighborhoods in one Texas county found that people living in regions with 33 fast food restaurants or more had 13 percent greater odds of stroke than those living in neighborhoods with the fewest fast-food joints.

"The only thing we are certain about is, if you live in a neighborhood with a high fast-food restaurant concentration, you are at increased risk," Morgenstern said. He presented his study Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego.

Morgenstern's research team gathered data on stroke cases in Nueces County, Texas, finding 1,247 cases of ischemic stroke from January 2000 through June 2003. More than 700,000 strokes occur each year in the United States, and most are ischemic, in which blood vessels become clogged.
The researchers said that for every fast food restaurant in a particular neighborhood, the relative stroke risk was raised by 1 percent. This goes hand-in-hand with a new study showing that living on fast foods and following an unhealthy lifestyle increased your risk of stroke by 2.3 times. However the food industry often maintains that a lack of exercise is more to blame.