Living Near Fast Food Restaurants Ups Stroke Risk

Boston (HealthKnowItAll) - A new study finds that living near to fast food outlets can actually raise your risk of having a stroke.

This is just the latest health hazard that is present when fast food is involved, joining a long list of health problems associated with the stuff.

As if obesity and heart disease are not enough, now stroke risk is also being added to the health hazard list.

Researchers studied a neighborhood in Texas for their study and found that those living in a neighborhood with up to 33 fast food outlets were 12% more likely to have a stroke.

They also noted that for each additional fast food restaurant in the neighborhood, a persons’ risk of stroke went up by 1 percent.

“I can’t tell you that anybody who had a stroke in this study has ever had a burger in their lives,” said the lead researcher of the study. “But I can tell you that these neighborhoods on the whole have factors that increase the risk of stroke.”

Researchers presented their study at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego on Thursday.