A new British survey indicates, Big Macs are plentiful where the increasingly obese poor live.

Researchers discovered that for England and Scotland there is a strong correlation between neighborhood deprivation and the presence of Mickey D's restaurants, but obesity is not connected to the fast food chain or any others.

Lead author Steven Cummins Ph.D. of the University of London says, "From previous research we know that the consumption of fast-food, which is high fat and energy dense, is associated with obesity. Our study investigates whether opportunities to consume fast food are greater in poorer areas, using McDonald's restaurants as a case study."

Karen Glanz, Ph.D., director of the Prevention Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta says, The most important implication of this finding for public health is the evidence "there may be a greater supply of - or easier access to - cheap food, generally of low nutritional value, in less affluent neighborhoods."

Last year, the same journal reported that in New Orleans, predominantly black and low-income neighborhoods had 2.4 fast food restaurants per square mile, while white neighborhoods had only 1.5. In that study, author Jason Block, M.D., mapped the placement of restaurants such as Church's Chicken, Pizza Hut, Subway, Burger King and Taco Bell.

Block says, "More convenient access likely leads to the increased consumption of fast food in these populations." He suggests the reasons could be less access to healthier food, consumer preference for fast food or "because of limited financial resources, black and low-income populations may simply seek out the most calories for the lowest price."

The researchers calculated "deprivation" using a variety of data, including current income, employment, health, education and housing, and ranked the areas by this standard.