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Over the past several years, Oklahoma City has consistently been home to more so-called "heavy users" of fast food than any other American city...

While Greenville, North Carolina earned the dubious honor as the No. 1 market for heavy users in 2006, with 59 percent of its fast-food patrons grabbing burgers and fries 12 or more times a month - versus a national average of 42 percent...

Last year, well over half (55 percent) of Oklahoma City fast-food patrons dined in establishments like McDonald's (Charts) or Wendy's (Charts) a dozen times or more per month, placing it tied for No. 3 with Memphis and Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia...

When ranked by the number of trips, fast-food users in McAllen, Texas, led the nation last year with 25 monthly visits per person, on average - yes, that's almost once every day - but Oklahoma City was right behind with 21. Three other Texas cities - El Paso, San Antonio and Dallas - also made the top ten. None of the leading fast-food gobbling cities is north of the Mason-Dixon line...

While the restaurant industry vehemently discounts any link between fast food consumption and rising obesity rates, it's worth noting that researchers at the nonprofit Rand Corporation recently found that the proportion of Americans with a body-mass index of 30 or more increased by 24 percent between 2000 and 2005...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oklahoma was one of 17 states that had an obesity prevalence rate of 25 percent or higher in 2005. Back in 1990, no state had a rate at or above 20 percent.

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