Frying food in olive or sunflower oil 'not linked to heart disease'
People who regularly include food fried in olive or sunflower oil in their diet plans do not appear to have an increased risk of heart disease, scientists say.Frying is one of the most common methods of cooking in western countries, but the practice is associated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.
However, until recently, the links between eating fried food and heart disease had not been fully investigated.
Now, scientists at the Autonomous University of Madrid have studied more than 40,000 adults, aged 29 to 69 years, for 11 years.
They found that those who ate the most fried food were no more likely to develop or die from coronary heart disease than those who the least.
However, the researchers stressed that the results may be different in countries where solid oils are used for frying.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, the study authors concluded: "In a Mediterranean country where olive and sunflower oils are the most commonly used fats for frying, and where large amounts of fried foods are consumed both at and away from home, no association was observed between fried food consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease or death."
However, Professor Michael Leitzmann from Germany's University of Regensburg wrote in an accompanying editorial that the finding "does not mean that frequent meals of fish and chips will have no health consequences".
