Fried food and our heart health: let’s talk about it! What is recommended?

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Are you a regular fried food eater?

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Fried food and Western diets

Diet and nutrition are one of the largest modifiable risk factors for developing chronic life-long diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity. Fried foods are commonly associated with the Western diet [1]. However, as research emerges, concerns surrounding fried foods' effects on our general health become a priority [1].

Here we discuss the associated risk factors that fried food has with coronary artery disease, heart failure, hypertension, type II diabetes, gestational diabetes and obesity.

Fried food and cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity

Controversial effects on coronary artery disease

• Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of global death [2].

• There is an overall inconsistency regarding the association between cardiovascular disease and fried food [2].

• The discrepancies may be attributed to:

  • Type and composition of the food [2]

  • Type of oil [2]

  • Frying time [2]

  • Frying technique (deep frying or pan frying) [2]

  • Oil degradation [2]

Increased risk for heart failure

• Fried food, such as fried fish, has been associated with:

  • Reduced pumping ability of the heart [3]

  • Reduced volume of pumped blood [3]

  • Higher blood vessel resistance [3]

• It was demonstrated that even one serving of fried food per week increases your risk of heart failure by 48% [4].

• It was also demonstrated that there was a positive association between fried food consumption and the risk of heart failure [4, 5]. Thus, the more fried food consumed per week elevates your risk of heart failure [4, 5].

Increased risk for hypertension

• Studies have demonstrated that fried food consumption increases an individual’s risk of developing hypertension [6, 7]. In addition, frequent fried food consumption was associated with an increased risk of developing hypertension [8].

• Nevertheless, lifestyle changes in cooking habits, from frying to boiling, has been found to be beneficial for controlling blood pressure [9].

Increased risk for type II diabetes

• Studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between fried food consumption and type II diabetes [10, 11].

• It was demonstrated that consuming 1-3 fried meals per week increased the risk of type II diabetes by 15% [12]. In addition, type II diabetes was 39% and 55% more likely in those who consumed fried food 4-6 and 7 times per week, respectively [12].

Increased risk for gestational diabetes

• Pre-pregnancy fried food consumption was associated with a proportionally increasing risk for gestational diabetes [13].

• When the fried food intake of 1-3, 4-6 and 7 times per week was compared to < 1 time per week, there was a 13%, 31% and 118% increased risk for developing gestational diabetes [13].

Increased risk for obesity

• As expected, central and general obesity is associated with fried food consumption [2].

• There is a positive association between fried food consumption and waist circumference [14] or being overweight [15].

• There is a 37% increased risk of developing overweight and/or obesity when fried food is consumed > 4 per week when compared to those who consume fried food < 2 per week [16].
  

The strong association between fried food consumption and the development of various diseases supports the conclusion of complete avoidance. However, this may not be something that is easily achievable.

Based on the aforementioned studies, there appears to be a dose-response relationship between the frequency of fried food consumption and the development of disease. Thus, a more appropriate conclusion is that the reduction to as much as possible is recommended to avoid faster future disease development [2].

Let's protect ourselves from long-term disease development

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Reference:

[1] Qin P, Zhang M, Han M, Liu D, Luo X, Xu L, et al. Fried-food consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of observational studies. Heart. 2021;107(19):1567-75.

[2] Gadiraju T, Patel Y, Gaziano J, Djoussé L. Fried Food Consumption and Cardiovascular Health: A Review of Current Evidence. Nutrients. 2015;7(10):8424-30.

[3] Mozaffarian D, Gottdiener JS, Siscovick DS. Intake of tuna or other broiled or baked fish versus fried fish and cardiac structure, function, and hemodynamics. Am J Cardiol. 2006;97(2):216-22.

[4] Belin RJ, Greenland P, Martin L, Oberman A, Tinker L, Robinson J, et al. Fish Intake and the Risk of Incident Heart Failure. Circulation: Heart Failure. 2011;4(4):404-13.

[5] Djoussé L, Petrone AB, Gaziano JM. Consumption of Fried Foods and Risk of Heart Failure in the Physicians' Health Study. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2015;4(4):e001740-e.

[6] Soriguer F, Rojo-Martínez G, Dobarganes MC, García Almeida JM, Esteva I, Beltrán M, et al. Hypertension is related to the degradation of dietary frying oils. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2003;78(6):1092-7.

[7] Wang L, Manson JE, Forman JP, Gaziano JM, Buring JE, Sesso HD. Dietary Fatty Acids and the Risk of Hypertension in Middle-Aged and Older Women. Hypertension. 2010;56(4):598-604.

[8] Sayon-Orea C, Bes-Rastrollo M, Gea A, Zazpe I, Basterra-Gortari FJ, Martinez-Gonzalez MA. Reported fried food consumption and the incidence of hypertension in a Mediterranean cohort: the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) project. British Journal of Nutrition. 2014;112(6):984-91.

[9] Kisioglu AN, Aslan B, Ozturk M, Aykut M, Ilhan I. Improving control of high blood pressure among middle-aged Turkish women of low socio-economic status through public health training. Croat Med J. 2004;45(4):477-82.

[10] Krishnan S, Coogan PF, Boggs DA, Rosenberg L, Palmer JR. Consumption of restaurant foods and incidence of type 2 diabetes in African American women. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2010;91(2):465-71.

[11] Odegaard AO, Koh WP, Yuan J-M, Gross MD, Pereira MA. Western-Style Fast Food Intake and Cardiometabolic Risk in an Eastern Country. Circulation. 2012;126(2):182-8.

[12] Cahill LE, Pan A, Chiuve SE, Sun Q, Willett WC, Hu FB, et al. Fried-food consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease: a prospective study in 2 cohorts of US women and men. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2014;100(2):667-75.

[13] Bao W, Tobias DK, Olsen SF, Zhang C. Pre-pregnancy fried food consumption and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study. Diabetologia. 2014;57(12):2485-91.

[14] Krachler B, Eliasson M, Stenlund H, Johansson I, Hallmans G, Lindahl B. Reported food intake and distribution of body fat: a repeated cross-sectional study. Nutr J. 2006;5:34.

[15] Tiwari R, Srivastava D, Gour N. A Cross-sectional Study to Determine Prevalence of Obesity in High Income Group Colonies of Gwalior City. Indian J Community Med. 2009;34(3):218-22.

[16] Sayon-Orea C, Bes-Rastrollo M, Basterra-Gortari FJ, Beunza JJ, Guallar-Castillon P, de la Fuente-Arrillaga C, et al. Consumption of fried foods and weight gain in a Mediterranean cohort: the SUN project. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2013;23(2):144-50.