Fried food linked to increased risk of death among older US women

Regularly eating fried food is linked with a heightened risk of death from any cause and of heart related death among postmenopausal women, a US study published in The BMJ has found.1

The researchers say that reducing consumption of fried foods, especially fried chicken and fried fish or shellfish, could have a positive public health impact.

Up to a third of North American adults have fast food every day, and previous studies have shown that a greater intake of fried food is associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. But evidence about the risk of death associated with eating fried foods is limited and subject to much debate.

To tackle this, researchers investigated the association of eating fried food with death using diet questionnaire data from 106 966 women, aged 50 to 79, enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative between 1993 and 1998 and who were followed up to February 2017.

During this time there were 31 588 deaths, including 9320 heart related deaths, 8358 cancer deaths, and 13 880 from other causes.

The researchers looked at the women’s total and specific consumption of different fried foods, including “fried chicken,” “fried fish, fish sandwich, and fried shellfish (shrimp and oysters),” and other fried foods, such as french fries, tortilla chips, and tacos.

After taking account of potentially influential factors such as lifestyle, overall diet quality, education level, and income, the researchers found that women who ate one or more servings of fried food a day had an 8% higher risk of death than those who did not eat fried food (multivariable adjusted hazard ratio was 1.08, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.16).

One or more servings of fried chicken a day was linked to a 13% higher risk of death from any cause (1.13 (1.07 to 1.19) and a 12% higher risk of heart related death (1.12, 1.02 to 1.23) compared with no fried food.

Similarly, one or more servings of fried fish or shellfish a day was linked to a 7% higher risk of death from any cause (1.07, 1.03 to 1.12) and a 13% higher risk of heart related death (1.13, 1.04 to 1.22) compared with no fried food.

There was no evidence that eating fried food was associated with cancer related death.

Women who ate fried foods more regularly tended to be younger, non-white, with less education, and a lower income. They were also more likely to be smokers, exercise less, and have a lower quality diet.

This was an observational study that only considered women in the US, so may not be applicable more widely, the researchers emphasise. They say that the presence of “unidentified confounders is still possible,” so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause.

But the study was large and the sample of women diverse, they said, which led them to identify “a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality that is readily modifiable by lifestyle.”

The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, and US Department of Health and Human Services.