UK researchers think that fast food restaurants should start handing out cholesterol-lowering drugs to counter the effects of the fatty food.

Taking a statin pill daily could offset harm caused by a daily dose of cheeseburger and milkshake, the Imperial College London team said.

It would cost around 5 centers per customer, about as much as a packet of ketchup.

An unhealthy diet does a lot more damage than just raising cholesterol, warned the British Heart Foundation.

Dr Darrell Francis with his colleagues, writing in the American Journal of Cardiology, said that it was about reducing harm in the way that people who smoke are encouraged to use filters and drivers are told to wear safety belts.

The data was taken from around 43,000 people to calculate whether the statins could override the negative effects of having a junk food diet.

A dose of statin a day can neutralize a lot of the cardiovascular disease linked to a daily in take of a 7oz cheeseburger and a small milkshake, they thought.

The team thinks that there is no substitute for living a healthy lifestyle, like eating a good diet, but the complimentary statin could be at least one good choice among a lot of poor ones.

For those who eat junk food once a year, and annual one-off statin dose will have very little effect, but for those who eat it on a more regular basis, it could have a greater advantage to neutralize the risk, they said.

Statins are already popular in Britain to reduce the risk of falling victim to heart attack or stroke by lowering bad cholesterol levels in the their blood.

They are thought to be safe, though some raised concerns about side-effects.

One dose of statin, simcastatin, is available in low doses to get from a pharmacist in Britain.

"Importantly, even partial adherence to statin therapy conveys a mortality benefit, suggesting that statins do not need to be taken daily to have some protective effect," said Dr Francis.

But he pointed out that statins would not affect all the negative effects of an unhealthy diet.

"It's ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthy condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed," he said.

"It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge."

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said that this should not be taken literally.

"A junk food diet has a wealth of unhealthy consequences beyond raising cholesterol.

"It can cause high blood pressure through too much salt, or obesity through eating meals loaded with calories.

Adding, "Statins are a vital medicine for people with - or at high risk of developing heart disease.

"They are not a magic bullet."