Cardiovascular diseases include conditions such as arrhythmias, coronary heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, congenital heart defects, vascular dementia, and stroke.
In a study from Shenzhen University, scientists found that eating fried food is linked to a heightened risk of significant heart disease and stroke.
And the risk rises with each additional 114 g weekly serving.
It’s clear that the Western diet doesn’t promote good heart health, but it’s not clear exactly what contribution fried food might make to the risks of serious heart disease and stroke.
In the study, researchers trawled research databases, looking for relevant papers published up to April 2020, and found 19.
They used the data involving 562,445 participants and 36,727 major cardiovascular ‘events’, such as a heart attack or stroke, to assess heart disease risk.
And they use the data involving 754,873 participants and 85,906 deaths over an average monitoring period of 9.5 years, to assess the potential link between fried food consumption and deaths from heart disease.
The researchers showed that the highest weekly fried food consumption was linked to a 28% increased risk of major heart events; a 22% heightened risk of coronary heart disease; and a 37% heightened risk of heart failure.
What’s more, a linear link emerged between fried food consumption and major heart events, coronary heart disease, and heart failure.
These risks increased by 3%, 2%, and 12%, respectively, in tandem with each additional 114 g weekly serving.
The team suggests that fried foods boost energy intake because of their fat content and they generate harmful trans-fatty acids from the hydrogenated vegetable oils often used to cook them.
Frying also boosts the production of chemical by-products involved in the body’s inflammatory response, while foods, such as fried chicken and French fries, are usually high in added salt, and often accompanied by sugar-sweetened drinks, particularly when served in fast food.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and calcium supplements could harm your heart health.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies that blackcurrants can reduce blood sugar after meals and results showing how drinking milk affects the risks of heart disease and cancer.
The study was published in Heart.
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