Study: Areas With More Fast Food Restaurants Report More Heart Attacks

[donnay]

Study: Areas With More Fast Food Restaurants Report More Heart Attacks

by John Anderer

ADELAIDE, Australia — It’s no secret that regularly eating fast food probably isn’t the best dietary decision in the world. Now, a new study out of Australia shows a connection between the number of fast food restaurants in a town or city and the number of people who suffer from heart attacks.

The findings, recently presented at the annual Scientific Meeting of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ), state that areas containing a higher number of fast food restaurants report higher rates of heart attacks. According to researchers, for each additional fast food restaurant opened in the New South Wales area, there were four more heart attacks reported per 1,000 people annually.

“The findings were consistent across rural and metropolitan areas of New South Wales and after adjusting for age, obesity, high blood lipids, high blood pressure, smoking status, and diabetes. The results emphasize the importance of the food environment as a potential contributor towards health,” explains study author Tarunpreet Saluja in a release by the European Society of Cardiology.

Saluja would go on to say that despite the common knowledge that fast food is unhealthy, both consumption and availability continue to increase on a global scale.

The study consisted of 3,070 patients admitted to Australian hospitals with a heart attack between 2011-2013. Each patient’s home address was on file, so researchers were able to look into the number of fast food chains readily available in each of their neighborhoods. The total number of restaurants in each area was recorded and compared against each other in order to determine the association between fast food restaurant density and heart attack frequency.

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“Previous studies have shown that the poor nutritional value, high salt and saturated fat in fast food is connected to heart disease, yet the role of greater access to these restaurants has been less clear,” Saluja says.

Researchers hope that their findings encourage a more spirited debate surrounding the role fast food accessibility plays in the industry’s impact on the health of the general population.

Personal responsibility is, of course, the number one factor in one’s health and diet. That being said, researchers also stressed that policy makers need to be aware of the risks associated with numerous fast food chains in one area.

“This is an important paper that documents the association between fast foods and cardiac events, independent of risk factors. It will be crucial to explore whether this association is independent of the social determinants of disease, as we know that fast food outlets are often more common in disadvantaged areas. Nonetheless, the findings are a reminder that the fundamental drivers of cardiovascular disease burden may be altered by changes in public policy. The fact that the appropriate policy steps have not been taken, despite the cost of cardiovascular disease, remains as much a mystery in Australia as elsewhere in the world,” comments Professor Tom Marwick, Chair of the CSANZ 2019 Scientific Programme Committee.

The study was presented at The 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.

https://www.studyfinds.org/areas-wit...heart-attacks/

[nikcers]

Heart attacks aren't just caused by junk food. We as a society have trvialized the relationship between the body and mind and especially the heart. Exercise and physical fitness is the key to well being. People don't want the doctor that tells them to lose weight though, they want the doctor that gives them bad medicine and gives them a pill.

[donnay]

Heart attacks aren't just caused by junk food. We as a society have trvialized the relationship between the body and mind and especially the heart. Exercise and physical fitness is the key to well being. People don't want the doctor that tells them to lose weight though, they want the doctor that gives them bad medicine and gives them a pill.

Consuming food that is high in processed fats, salt, sugar and additives everyday, along with exercise will make you physically fit?

[nikcers]

Consuming food that is high in processed fats, salt, sugar and additives everyday, along with exercise will make you physically fit?

How many people are living the lifestyle man evolved to live where they would hunt and chase food for miles and miles to catch it. You know how in the bible they talk about walking everywhere really long distances? We are long distance hunters.

[donnay]

How many people are living the lifestyle man evolved to live where they would hunt and chase food for miles and miles to catch it. You know how in the bible they talk about walking everywhere really long distances? We are long distance hunters.

No one is saying you have to be a hunter-gatherer. You can learn to eat clean nutritious food and know that things like junk food in moderation isn't going to kill you. If you are eating nutritiously and keep motivated, eating some junk food, once in a while, isn't going to give you heart disease and kill you. However, a diet strictly of fast food with little or no value to the body will definitely pose a problem after a while. Your body needs the necessary nutrients to keep going, just like a car needs oil to run. When your car runs out of oil, it breaks down and the engine ceases--the body will too.

[nikcers]

No one is saying you have to be a hunter-gatherer. You can learn to eat clean nutritious food and know that things like junk food in moderation isn't going to kill you. If you are eating nutritiously and keep motivated, eating some junk food, once in a while, isn't going to give you heart disease and kill you. However, a diet strictly of fast food with little or no value to the body will definition pose a problem after a while. Your body needs the necessary nutrients to keep going, just like a car needs oil to run. When your car runs out of oil, it breaks down and the engine ceases--the body will too.

The guy who walks or rides a bike 30 miles a day is never going to die from eating junk food.

[nikcers]

The ancient greeks knew that and they had gyms in all of their hospitals. They would also use the placebo affect and joo joo because they knew the value in psychology and the mind.

[donnay]

The guy who walks or rides a bike 30 miles a day is never going to die from eating junk food.

If he doesn't have the proper nutrition to keep him going, he will break down just like an engine that has no oil, at some point.

[donnay]

The ancient greeks knew that and they had gyms in all of their hospitals. They would also use the placebo affect and joo joo because they knew the value in psychology and the mind.

If you live on pure junk no amount of gym time is going to help you.

[nikcers]

If he doesn't have the proper nutrition to keep him going, he will break down just like an engine that has no oil, at some point.

Most of the $#@! in fast food that kills people are sugary carbs and fats. People literally load up on those doing marathon running.

[nikcers]

If you live on pure junk no amount of gym time is going to help you.

As long as there is protein and essential fatty acids you can function on all the junk you want if you burn it all up as energy for your muscles.

[donnay]

Most of the $#@! in fast food that kills people are sugary carbs and fats. People literally load up on those doing marathon running.

Yes that is all short-term. It still doesn't make them healthy. People have to learn to listen to their body just like you have to pay attention to the dashboard oil light warning.

[nikcers]

Yes that is all short-term. It still doesn't make them healthy. People have to learn to listen to their body just like you have to pay attention to the dashboard oil light warning.

Ron Paul bikes every day and have you seen the food in the Ron Paul cookbook.. that dudes probably going to out live us all.

[donnay]

Ron Paul bikes every day and have you seen the food in the Ron Paul cookbook.. that dudes probably going to out live us all.

Yes, I own a the Paul's family cookbook. It's all home cooking, not McDonalds as I recall.

[nikcers]

Yes, I own a the Paul's family cookbook. It's all home cooking, not McDonalds as I recall.

Its not Mcdonalds fault, they are not the ones forcing people to eat it for every meal. People who eat mcdonalds every meal are usually enslaved to their jobs and don't even know it. They have no time and energy for themselves.

[donnay]

Its not Mcdonalds fault, they are not the ones forcing people to eat it for every meal. People who eat mcdonalds every meal are usually enslaved to their jobs and don't even know it. They have no time and energy for themselves.

I didn't say it was McDonald's fault. We are all responsible for our own health habits, ultimately. Common sense should dictate, but I understand how people become slaves to conveniences.