Study: Obesity Risk From Fried Foods May Depend on Genetic Makeup

19 Mar 2014 --- A study has found that some people have a higher risk of obesity from eating fried foods than others. The study, from researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, is the first to show that the adverse effects of fried foods may vary depending on the genetic makeup of the individual.

Speaking exclusively to FoodIngredientsFirst, the lead author of the report, Lu Qi, an assistant professor in the in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said: “As our data has shown, high consumption of fried food increased the risk of obesity even in those with a low genetic risk, but the adverse effects appeared more pronounced in those with high genetic risk.” These people should therefore be extra vigilant with their diets, she confirmed.

The researchers analyzed data from 9,623 women in the Nurses' Health Study, 6,379 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and 21,426 women in the Women's Genome Health Study. Participants filled out food frequency questionnaires that asked how often they ate fried foods both at home and away from home. Body mass index (BMI) and lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, were also assessed. Genetic risk scores were calculated based on genetic variants associated with BMI.
 
The results showed that regular consumption of fried foods was associated with higher BMI, after taking into account other dietary and lifestyle factors. In addition, the study showed that the association between overconsumption of fried foods and obesity was particularly pronounced among people with a greater genetic predisposition to obesity. On the other hand, the genetic effect on BMI among those who ate fried foods more than four times a week was about twice as large compared with those who ate them less than once a week.
 
“Our findings indicate that genetic risk of obesity could be mitigated by simply changing an eating habit,” said Frank Hu, co-author and professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH. “From a public health point of view, everyone should be encouraged to adopt healthy eating habits, not just those who are genetically susceptible.”

Over the past three decades there has been a global increase in the prevalence of obesity, which many believe has been primarily driven by changes in lifestyles. The prevalence of obesity in the United States is much higher than in other countries, and the greater consumption of fast foods is one of the notable differences between the US and the rest of the world.  Frying is a common and traditional cooking procedure in Western countries, especially outside of the home. Fried foods make up a substantial proportion of the items sold at fast food restaurants that are patronized by about a third of Americans every day. Western-style diet pattern heavily loaded with fried foods is positively associated with obesity and related chronic diseases. Such studies, however, did not consider the potential modification by an individual’s genetic make-up.
 
The study appears online March 18, 2014 in the British Medical Journal.

By Sonya Hook