Living near fast food is linked with stroke risk

How many fast-food restaurants are there in your area? A study presented at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego on Thursday found that the number of fast-food outlets (quick service, takeaway, no waiter and payment before you get your food) near where you live may raise your risk of stroke by up to 13%.

Fast food has been blamed for obesity and heart disease, and now stroke risk may join the list. The study's author, Dr Lewis Morgenstern, professor of neurology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, said it isn't known whether the link is causal, but if you live in a neighbourhood with many fast-food restaurants, the risk is higher.

Morgenstern's team studied data from a county in Texas from January 2000 to June 2003, during which there were 1,247 strokes. More than 700,000 strokes happen in the US each year, most of them caused by blocked blood vessels.

The researchers found 262 fast-food restaurants in the county and used 64 US census tracts to count the number in each. Neighbourhoods were ranked from most to fewest, from 33 restaurants per tract in the top quarter to 12 in the lowest. After allowing for social, economic and population factors, the analysis found a 13% higher risk of stroke in the top quarter compared with the bottom quarter. Each tract had about 5,000 people.

Morgenstern believes anyone planning to move should look at the neighbourhood, including the number of shops selling fresh produce and the number of fast-food restaurants.

Beth Johnson, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association, said the concern was not supported by the findings. The study was seriously flawed, she said: by its own admission it showed no link between eating in restaurants and the strokes, and it said nothing about the eating and exercise habits of the people involved.

Morgenstern admitted he didn't know whether any of the stroke patients in the study area had ever eaten a hamburger, but added: "If these associations are causal, the results are of great importance for public health, given how common fast-food restaurants are."