fried food

Okay everyone – check this out for a headline: Research Shows Fried Foods Don’t Contribute to Heart Disease. Yep that was an actual article published this week. Come on, really?

So should you all run out and eat French fries and batter dipped shrimp? Heck no, that’s absurd. Here’s the scoop behind this new research – 40,000 Spaniards were followed for 11 years. These people ate 138 grams of fried food per day, which included 14 grams of either sunflower or olive used for frying. And guess what, after 11 years only 606 of the 40,000 had an incidence of heart attack or clogged arteries. Sounds good right? Not so fast.

Let’s talk about the numbers first. Remember that the participants ate 138 grams of fried food per day. Well, that’s ONE order of large fries from your favorite fast food joint. One chicken breast from KFC is 176 grams. A fried fish sandwich you ask? How about 206 grams in total weight! See my point? Compared to the average American diet, 138 grams of fried food per day is actually much less than what we as a nation consume. And two, I can guarantee you that fast food chains are not frying your food in premium olive or sunflower oil. So any health benefits from cooking in those oils don’t apply to us.

My other major issue is that while the study says that the participants ate a certain amount of fried food each day, I want to know what it was that they ate. Different cultures in various parts of the world eat foods native to their region. For instance, some societies eat much more fiber via fruits and vegetables. Was this part of the Spaniards diet? We know fiber helps to regulate weight, lower cholesterol and overall provide many health benefits. I highly doubt our Spanish friends were eating the fried food served here in the States. Make no mistake, only Americans eat like…well Americans!

If we had a nation of people sautéing fish, meats and vegetables in healthy oils, we’d probably see a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease and have nearly no obesity. But that’s not what we do is it? We use butter, margarine and cheap oils to fry fatty food that’s been rolled in some sort of breading and we eat way too much of it. And that’s not healthy, no matter what any study (mis)leads you to believe. It’s a proven fact that high cholesterol, blood lipids and other cardiovascular health issues can be significantly reduced when saturated fats are taken out of the diet and replaced with healthy fats and vegetables. I mean seriously, this is heart health 101 and it’s shameful in my opinion that articles like this make it sound as though it’s okay to eat fried food.

I’m always wondering who publishes these studies and what their motives are. I’m fearful that people will just read the headline, skim the article and think they have carte blanche to eat all the fried food they want. The last thing this country needs is to start believing fried food doesn’t have a negative impact on our health. Now, let’s be clear. One large serving of French fries per day is probably harmless. But let me ask you – who eats just one large fries or one piece of fried chicken? Yeah, that’s what I thought…

But what do you think? Do you find this research to be misleading? And have you come across any similarly misleading articles recently…