Strokes tied to fast-food neighborhoods

U.S. researchers say you’re more likely to have a stroke if you live in a neighborhood populated by fast-food restaurants.

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, said Dr. Lewis Morgenstern of the University of Michigan.

People living in areas dominated by fast-food restaurants were 13 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than those who living in neighborhoods with few fast-food restaurants, concluded a study led by Morgenstern.

Morgenstern’s team followed more than 1,200 patients in Nueces County, Texas, from 2000 to 2003, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

More study will determine if the problem is related to the direct consumption of fast-food, a lack of more healthy options or something completely different in these neighborhoods that are associated with poor health, Morgenstern said in WebMD story published Saturday.