Fast-food can up heart disease death risk

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MINNEAPOLIS, July 5 (UPI) -- People who eat fast-food four or more times a week up their risk of dying from heart disease by 80 percent, researchers in the United States and Singapore say.

The study, published online in the journal Circulation, found people who consumed fast-food even once a week increase their risk of dying from coronary heart disease by 20 percent, in comparison to people who avoid fast-food. The risk increased by 50 percent for people who eat fast-food two to three times each week.

Andrew Odegaard, a University of Minnesota postdoctoral researcher, senior author Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and colleagues at the National University of Singapore, found eating fast-food two or more times a week increased the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 27 percent.

The researchers analyzed the eating habits of 52,000 Chinese residents of Singapore who experienced a recent and sudden transition from traditional foods to Western-style fast food over a 16-year period beginning in 1993.

"What's interesting about the results is that study participants who reported eating fast-food most frequently were younger, better educated, smoked less and were more likely to be physically active," Odegaard said in a statement. "This profile is normally associated with lower cardio-metabolic risk."