A new study found that the people who live in neighborhoods that are packed with fast-food restaurants are at higher risk for strokes by 13%, compared to the places where such restaurants are fewer. Dr. Lewis B. Morgenstern, a professor of neurology at the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health, who is the author of the study, stated that this link isn’t sure to be the cause of this bigger number of strokes.

He added that the thing they are certain about is that the people who live in areas packed with fast-food restaurants are surely at increased risk of having a stroke. The research team presented the findings on Thursday during the International Stroke Conference from San Diego.

They gathered data on many stroke cases from Nueces County, Texas, and discovered that there were 1,247 cases of ischemic stroke from January 2000 to June 2003. The findings also showed that nearly 700,000 strokes happen every year to people who live in the United States, most of which are ischemic, causing the blood vessels to become clogged.

The results led the researchers to discover that there are 262 fast-food restaurants in the area. Then the U.S. Census Bureau got the information and tried to determine the number of fast-foods in each area. Only the restaurants which had rapid food service, takeout business, either no or a very limited wait staff and payment made before receiving food were the ones investigated.

Yet, as Morgenstern, it had been very difficult to track the exact number of restaurants per block or per mile, considering the big number of inhabitants, but the census released data according to which 5,000 people lived in such areas. Thus, the study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health showed that there was a 13% increase of strokes “in the top 25 percent compared to the lowest 25 percent."

Dr. Ralph Sacco, chairman of the department of neurology at the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine and a spokesman for the American Stroke Association, said that all the findings seem to be very interesting, but the researchers still don’t know whether this is the exact cause of the strokes.

Yet, Dr. Dean Johnston, a clinical assistant professor of neurology at the University of British Columbia, said that all the discoveries connected to this issue sound very plausible. He added that the findings suggest that the diet and the lifestyle factors are the most important ones to take care of as to avoid strokes. Fast food has been long linked to problems such as obesity and high stroke risk.

Morgenstern stated that anyone who is moving should consider the area and the neighborhood first, making sure that there are enough markets from where you can buy fresh products and a small number of fast food restaurants.