DORCHESTER has come out squeaky-clean in a new poll of the UK's unhealthiest towns.

The list is based on the number of independent takeaways and high street fast food outlets there are per resident, and Dorset's county town was found to have the fewest.

Currently the only McDonald's serving Dorchester is on the outskirts of town - however KFC has recently announced plans to open beside the town's football club.

The next-healthiest places in the country are Inverness, Torquay, Perth and Plymouth.

At the opposite end of the (bathroom) scale, East Central London tops the list for total amount of fast food restaurants per capita whilst also having the most McDonald's, KFC and Domino’s Pizza restaurants available to each resident.

Closely behind in second overall was Galashiels in Scotland, followed by West Central London, Newport and Glasgow.

The study was carried out as part of a wider campaign to find out how lazy the UK is, following a recent announcement that McDonald’s will soon have a site in every UK county, with the news it is opening a restaurant in Rutland, east Midlands.

Meanwhile, Greggs the baker has just announced its 2,000th store.

Claudia le Feuvre, a nutritional therapist, said: "We know takeaways aren’t healthy, but we often justify it through all kinds of self-talk like ‘it’s been a hard week’ and ‘I deserve a treat’ which can have us heading into the takeaway without even realising it.

“Fast foods are often formulated to achieve the ‘bliss point’. This is the optimal blend of salt, sugar and fat which triggers the brain to produce feel-good endorphins and dopamine, a neurotransmitter that will keep us coming back for more.

"The McDonald’s burger bun is classified as confectionary as it has such high sugar content.”

Patrick Tonks of Great Bean Bags which conducted the research, said: “Whilst this research is a bit of fun, it still shows a massive demand for quick food. It seems the market is continuing to grow and that demand is still there - and we are firm believers in exercising some balance in life.”

See the full list of the UK’s unhealthiest places here.