Doctors have suggested anyone buying a burger in a fast food restaurant should be offered a free statin to offset the meal’s harmful effects on the heart.

By providing a cholesterol-lowering drug, doctors say it will help combat the likelihood of clogged arteries. They hope the statin will perform a similar role that filter tips do for cigarettes or seat-belts in cars.

Recent trials have shown taking a daily statin can reduce heart attack risk by 20-70 per cent. Regular fast food customers would only see a benefit if they routinely swallowed a pill with every meal.

Darrel Francis from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, said:

“It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge. It would cost less than 5p per customer – not much different to a sachet of ketchup.

“When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they’re encouraged to take measures that minimise their risk, like wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal.”

However, the British Heart Foundation has rejected the suggestion stating that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs should not be seen as a quick and easy way to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Mike Knapton, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said:

“Risk reduction has a place in tobacco addiction. But the risk of eating burgers goes beyond the cholesterol raising effects. It can cause high blood pressure through too much salt, or obesity through eating meals loaded with calories. Adding a statin could do more harm than good by increasing consumption.”

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