More Fast Food, More Fat People: Study

In a study published in December's Critical Public Health, officials looked at the International Monetary Fund's listing of the 26 richest countries to track the relationship between eating habits and weight. Then, using Subway as a benchmark -- apparently, out of all fast-food restaurants, this sandwich chain has the most locations in these nations -- researchers tabulated the amount of these eateries per capita, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Their totally predictable, totally expected findings?

People tended to get fatter in countries with more fast-food joints. In the U.S., where there are 7.52 such snackeries for every 100,000 citizens, the obesity rate hovers around 32 percent. In Canada, with 7.43 for every 100,000, some 23 percent of the populous counts as obese.

In Japan and Norway, where fast food does not abound, fewer people are obese -- 2.9 percent of Japanese and around 6 percent of Norwegians, the paper notes.

Of course, let's not confuse correlation with causality.

Researchers emphasize that they have only found a link between the number of fast-food restaurants and the number of obese people, but that the presence of these grease dens does not necessarily prompt obesity.

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