Women who are eating fried foods regularly could increase their risk of death and may die from heart-related diseases, according to the US study published in the journal The BMJ. Foods such as fried fish/shellfish and fried chicken were linked to heightened risk of heart-related death, particularly to women aged 50-65 years old in the study.
The United States researchers investigated the association of fried foods and deaths from any causes, specifically cancer or heart-related deaths, the MedicalXpress reported. The team used questionnaire data to analyze the diets of 106,966 women (aged 50 to 79). They were also enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) between 1993-1998, and they were followed up to February 2017.
Researchers have found that during this time, 31,588 deaths occurred - including 8,358 cancer deaths, 9,320 heart-related deaths, and 13,880 deaths from other causes. The team checked at the women's overall and specific consumption of different fried foods such as fried chicken, fried fish, fried shellfish, and fish sandwich, and other fried foods including tacos, French fries, and tortilla chips.
After also checking the potentially influential factors like overall diet quality, lifestyle, income, and education level, researchers discovered that eating fried foods regularly was linked to increased risk of death from any cause, particularly heart-related deaths. Those who consume one or more servings per day had an 8 percent higher risk than those who did not eat fried food.
One or more servings of fried chicken per day were associated with a 13 percent higher risk of death from any cause, while a 12 percent higher risk of heart-related death than those with no fried food. Moreover, one or more servings of fried fish/shellfish per day were associated with a 7 percent higher risk of death from any cause, while a 13 percent higher risk of heart-related death than those with no fried food.
Researchers didn't find evidence that eating fried food was linked to increased deaths caused by cancer.
In the study, women who tend to eat fried foods regularly were non-white, younger, had lower income, and less educated. They were also smokers, have a lower quality diet, and exercise less. Furthermore, the study is purely observational which only considers US women, so researchers noted the findings might not be applied more widely.
There might be "unidentified confounders" about heart-related deaths as well, so firm conclusions cannot be drawn about the cause. But, researchers concluded that reducing fried food consumption, particularly fried fish/shellfish and fried chicken may have a significant impact on the public health spectrum.
