Southern-style cooking is often associated with clogged arteries, and new research backs up past suspicions that a regular Southern United States diet could also increase one's risk heart disease. 

These foods can include fried items, processed meats, foods high in fat and added sugar, and sugar-sweetened beverages, the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported. These findings are significant because heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.

To make their findings, a team of researchers looked at data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, and determined the dietary patterns of 17,418 white and black individuals. These patterns included: "convenience, plant-based, sweets, Southern, alcohol and salad." The participants were broken up into groups based on their adherence to these dietary patterns, ranked from highest level of adherence to lowest.

Comparisons between the difference groups revealed the Southern-style pattern was most closely related with heart disease risk. Those who followed a Southern-style diet were found to be 56 percent more likely to develop heart disease compared to those with the lowest adherence, and no other dietary pattern group was linked to heart disease risk.

"I'm not surprised regular consumption of a Southern-style diet impacts heart disease, but the magnitude of the increased risk for heart disease was surprising," said study lead author James M. Shikany, professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine. "However, I was more surprised we didn't see a protective effect of the plant-based dietary pattern."

The researchers urge individuals who are following a Southern diet to slowly make healthy changes to help reduce their risk of heart disease.

"For anyone eating a lot of the main components of the Southern dietary pattern, I'd recommend they scale back on their consumption," Shikany said. "If you're eating bacon every morning, maybe cut back to only two or three days per week, or if you're drinking four glasses of sweet tea or several sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day, maybe reduce that to one a day and replace those with non-sweetened beverages."

The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Circulation.