The latest research from the U.S. has found that people who eat two or more servings of red meat a day and drink diet sodas, are at risk of developing conditions leading to heart disease and diabetes.
The researchers from the University of Minnesota, say these two factors increase the risk of suffering from a cluster of risk factors known as metabolic syndrome by 25%.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors and is characterised by excessive fat around the waist, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and high blood pressure.
The presence of three or more of the factors increases a person's risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Lyn Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University says finding that diet soda also promoted risk was initially a surprise but they suspect it may be associated with compensating for eating higher calorie food.
The researchers say the combination of lots of meat, fried foods and diet soda add up to heart disease and their conclusions add support to a growing body of evidence which has linked fast food with unhealthy lifestyles.
For the study the research team examined the diets of 9,514 people aged 45 to 64, and looked closely at what people were eating.
On the basis of a 66-item food frequency questionnaire, the participants were categorized into two groups: those with a "western-pattern" diet, heavy on processed meat, fried foods, red meat; and a "prudent-pattern" diet with more fruit and vegetables, with small amounts of fish and poultry.
The researchers found nine years later, even after smoking and exercise were factored in, that 3,782, nearly 40%, developed three or more of the factors linked to metabolic syndrome.