Recently, many scary "headline party" articles have sprung up: "Fried food is toxic, eating an extra 114 grams a week will not be far away from heart disease" "Eating fried food like this, heart failure and coronary heart disease will find you sooner or later". If you take a closer look, you will find that these views come from a recent study: "Eating more 114 grams of fried food every week will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease".
Is this research reliable? Let's analyze it right away!
Fried food is really unhealthy
The opinions of these online articles actually come from a paper just published. According to a joint study conducted by Shenzhen University Health Science Center and other institutions, eating fried food may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The researchers collected data from 19 high-quality studies involving 560000 people and analyzed the relationship between their consumption of fried food and cardiovascular disease risk.
The paper points out that the risk of major cardiovascular adverse events (including recurrent angina pectoris, acute myocardial infarction, severe arrhythmia, coronary heart disease death, etc.), coronary heart disease, and heart failure increased by 3%, 2%, and 12% respectively when an additional 114g of fried food was taken every week.
Compared with those who eat the least fried food every week, those who eat the most fried food have an increased risk of cardiovascular adverse events by 28%, coronary heart disease by 22%, and heart failure by 37%. The study also found that eating different fried foods had little difference in the impact on cardiovascular disease. For example, we all know that eating fish has many benefits, but this study found that fried fish will also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is not offset by the fact that fish is relatively healthy. In other words, fried fish, like French fries and potato chips, have little difference in their "ability" to damage cardiovascular health.
However, the researchers also pointed out that there were some shortcomings in the 19 studies. For example, the data of fried food intake is reported by the participants themselves, which may lead to incomplete and inaccurate memories. Some studies only investigated the intake of one kind of fried food, not all fried food. Different studies use different numerical standards to measure intake, some use "gram" to calculate; Some are calculated by "one" and "two", and the measurement standard of "one" is not uniform. This has an impact on the accurate numerical assessment of intake.
However, from the research conclusion, fried food is indeed associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease, and the more you eat, the greater the harm.
Can fried food be eaten?
Yes, but try to eat less. It's OK to satisfy a craving occasionally, but it's too much to eat every day. Eating more fried food is too bad for your health.
1. Energy intake easily exceeds the standard
Fried food is crispy and delicious, so it is easy to eat more. 100 grams of fried food is roughly equivalent to a bag of instant noodles, a small bag of crisps, two fried dough sticks, and two fried chicken wings. It is easy to "reach the standard". These fried foods have much higher energy than the raw materials. For example, the energy of two fried chicken wings (100g) is 1.4 times that of 100g raw chicken wings.
2. Eating fried food, the intake of edible oil is easy to exceed the standard
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016), the daily intake of edible oil for adults is 25-30g; Children should be controlled at 10-15g; 15-25g for pregnant and lying in women; 15-25g is recommended for the elderly and "three high" people.
Fried food is a big family with oil. The analysis found that the fat content of 100g fried dough sticks was 18.1g, sausage was 21.6g, potato chips was 32.9g, and fried chicken legs was 11.4g. In other words, if you eat 100 grams of potato chips, your daily oil intake will exceed the standard.
3. Fried food hurts blood vessels
Compared with other cooking methods, the temperature of frying is very high, which can exceed 200 ℃. The composition of food itself is also very complex, including a variety of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, salt, various spices, water, etc. Imagine what a complicated chemical reaction would take place in the oil pan! This may produce some harmful substances, such as trans fatty acids. The American Heart Association believes that trans fatty acids will reduce the level of "good cholesterol" (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and increase the level of "bad cholesterol" (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) in the human body, which is not conducive to cardiovascular health. Frying can also produce cholesterol oxidation products, damage blood vessels, and increase the risk of diabetes and atherosclerosis. A study involving 110000 people from Harvard University School of Public Health found that frequent consumption of fried food (more than 7 times a week) was significantly associated with type 2 diabetes and would also increase the risk of coronary artery disease.
4. Frying is easy to produce carcinogens
The high temperature when frying meat may also promote some carcinogens, mainly heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Heterocyclic amine is the change of amino acid in meat; Polycyclic aromatic compounds are formed when fat is fried or exposed to open fire. The National Cancer Institute believes that both of these substances will lead to changes in human DNA, which may increase the risk of cancer.
The high temperature during frying also makes food produce a harmful compound acrylamide. The amount of this material is related to the temperature of frying. Professor Ken Li of the Food Innovation Center of Ohio State University in the United States believes that the darker the food is fried, the more acrylamide it contains.
5. Fried food contains much salt
Fried foods usually add more seasonings, such as salt, MSG, etc., which will increase the intake of sodium, which is also bad for cardiovascular health.
How to satisfy a craving without hurting your body?
Fried food is fragrant, crisp and delicious, and it is really hard to refuse. Too much is too little, we don't need to eat a mouthful of fried food, just grasp the "degree".
For healthy enjoyment of fried food, it is recommended that:
Don't eat fried food as a staple food, try to eat less.
Do not eat fried parts.
Remove the wrapped fried skin (dough); It's better not to eat fried chicken skin and other food.
Select edible oil with good quality, such as olive oil, sunflower seed oil, etc., to reduce cooking time and oil temperature.
Air fryers can be used instead of frying.
After eating fried food, you can eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and more vitamin rich foods, such as apples, oranges, grapefruit, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, etc; It can also be paired with some coarse grain food, and you can also drink some yogurt or light tea after meals.
Strengthen exercise at ordinary times to reduce fat accumulation.
Wen/Dr. Ma Health Group Shen Guiyuan
