You have always been told about the health risks you take once you choose fast food dishes over home-made food. And still you cannot help it when you see so many fast food restaurants around you. What you should know is that an increased number of restaurants in your neighborhood is directly proportional with the number of strokes people suffer, at least this is the conclusion of a new study presented Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego.

 

In this latest study tying fast food restaurants to cardiovascular disease, 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.

 

Study author Dr. Lewis B. Morgenstern, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and colleagues gathered data on stroke cases in Nueces County, Texas. They found 1,247 cases of ischemic stroke from January 2000 through June 2003. Then, they counted the number of fast-food restaurants in the county and found there were 262.

 

“The data showed a true association or definite relationship, between unhealthy food and stroke. What we don't know is whether fast food actually increased the risk because of its contents, or whether fast-food restaurants are a marker of unhealthy neighborhoods,” Morgenstern said.

 

According to the American Heart Association, about 780,000 people suffer a new or a recurrent stroke every year.