Triglyceride levels and waist size are two aspects that decide the effect of a high-fat meal on blood vessel walls in individuals, according to a new UC Davis study.

Strokes and heart diseases are caused by thickening of arterial lining, inflammation and belly fat and a link has been strengthened by the new research.

Lead author Anthony Passerini of the UC Davis said that in the blood vessels, inflammatory responses can be affected by eating a common fast food meal.

He said, "Our techniques allowed us to measure the inflammatory potential of an individual's lipids outside of the body and to correlate that with easily measured characteristics that could be used to help better understand a person's risk for vascular disease."

For conducting a study for which 61 volunteers were recruited, Passerini collaborated with Scott Simon, of the UC Davis. All these participants were having various waist sizes, normal and high fasting triglyceride levels.

These people were made to eat a fast food breakfast and following this their levels of triglyceride particles were measured in their blood.

It was found by the team that the two aspects, preexisting blood triglyceride level and waist size after eating the breakfast, varied directly with triglyceride-rich lipoprotein, TGRL.