# Do the birds by fast-food restaurants have heart problems?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-birds-by-fast-food-restaurants-have-heart-problems/56252>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 28, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-birds-by-fast-food-restaurants-have-heart-problems/56252 "2001-02-28T18:19:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8baadc/32.png) [@KV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KV)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-birds-by-fast-food-restaurants-have-heart-problems/56252/1 "2001-02-28T18:19:11Z")

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They eat that stuff every day and it can’t be any better for them than it is for us. Do they weigh more than birds that eat a healthier diet?

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-birds-by-fast-food-restaurants-have-heart-problems/56252/2 "2001-02-28T21:33:54Z")

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In humans, heart disease takes decades to develop. I don’t think birds live long enough for it to be a problem. They have higher metabolisms than we do, so they probably burn calories pretty quickly. I would expect nutritional deficiencies to be more of a problem than obesity. Birds tend to travel quite a bit, so I suspect they could pick up nutrients from other food sources in their territory.

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-birds-by-fast-food-restaurants-have-heart-problems/56252/3 "2001-02-28T22:57:19Z")

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not sure ‘bout their heart, but there are warning signs near a pond by me that states something like - ‘please don’t feed the pigions, ducks, swans bread’ and goes on ’ the birds eat the bread and they don’t look for more nutrishious foods (bugs) and basically starve’

much like the startrek ‘trouble w/ tribbles’ episode.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-birds-by-fast-food-restaurants-have-heart-problems/56252/4 "2001-03-01T01:04:09Z")

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I thought that the reason you don’t feed ducks bread is because the water can swell up the bread in their throat and they can suffocate.