[jimbo2012]

People with certain genes that predispose them to excess weight and obesity may be more susceptible to gaining weight from eating fried food, a study reports.

In subjects in the highest third for genetic risk of obesity, the difference in body mass index (BMI) between those who consumed fried food four or more times a week versus one time a week was 1.0 in women and 0.7 in men, wrote Qibin Qi, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and his co-authors March 17 in BMJ.

For those in the lowest third of the genetic risk score, the corresponding differences were 0.5 and 0.4, they wrote.

The study included 9,623 women from the Nurses' Health Study and 6,379 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study for whom genotype data and periodic dietary questionnaires existed.

In addition, 21,421 women from the Women's Genome Health Study, for whom the same data was available, were included as a replication cohort. Genetic risk scores for both groups were based on 32 known BMI-associated variants.

In another analysis that combined the three cohorts, the differences in BMI per 10 risk alleles (P<0.001 for interaction) were: 1.1 for fried food less than once a week, 1.6 for fried food one to three times a week, and 2.2 for fried food more than three times a week.

In a third analysis looking at risk of obesity, the odds ratio for obesity per 10 risk alleles for the combined cohorts were:

1.61 (95% CI 1.40 to 1.87) for fried food less than once a week
2.12 (95% CI 1.73 to 2.59) for fried food one to three times a week
2.72 (95% CI 2.12 to 3.48) for fried food more than three times a week

"The variants in or near genes highly expressed or known to act in the central nervous system showed significant interactions with fried food consumption," the authors said.

But it was the FTO (fat mass- and obesity-associated) variant that showed the strongest result (P<0.001 for interaction), they said. The genetic association between the FTO variant and BMI strengthened consistently across all three categories of fried food intake in all three cohorts, the authors said.

Previous studies have demonstrated that a diet heavy in fried foods is associated with obesity and chronic disease. But those studies did not, the authors said, take into account the potential modification of risk created by each individual's genetic make-up.

These results are the first to suggest that people with a greater genetic predisposition to adiposity are more susceptible to the adverse influence of a surfeit of fried food.

The study "provides formal proof of interaction between a combined genetic risk score and environment in obesity," said Alexandra Blakemore, PhD, and Jessica Buxton, PhD, both of Imperial College in London, in an editorial that accompanied the article.

Blakemore and Buxton said that the results of the study were unlikely to influence public health advice "because all of us should be eating less fried food," but might herald an era of fewer one-size-fits-all approaches to treating people with obesity.

The authors of the study said that their results do suggest that it is possible to modify risk with behavioral change -- particularly with regard to fried food.

"Our findings further emphasize the importance of reducing consumption of fried foods in the prevention of obesity," in individuals known to be at genetic risk for adiposity, they said.

There were limitations in the study. Confounding by unknown factors might exist. Food frequency questionnaires might have contained errors. The authors said they were unable to test sex differences within each cohort because of the single-sex study design.

Some information regarding diet -- whether fried food was consumed at home or at restaurants, the type of oil used, the type of frying and the temperature used for frying, and the number of times the oil had been reused -- was not available. This could have limited the depth of analyses, the authors said.

Finally, given that the study participants were middle-age adults of European ancestry recruited in the U.S., it is unknown, said the authors, whether the results can be generalized to other demographic and ethnic groups.

By Elizabeth DeVita Raeburn, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

[justjim]

Interesting post. Would it make a difference what you fried the foods with---the oil, etc. that you used?

[TheVillageChicken]

An alternate view, and one to which I subscribe, is that if you consume more than you burn, you get fat.

[Russ_Boston]

Interesting post. BUT>>>


Regardless of WHY it's happening - if you are getting fat then maybe one of the first places you look is fried foods (and packaged prepared foods). I think everyone already knows that.


But the best bet is to get out and move. Exercise cures many a tummy!

[JourneyOfLife]

Perhaps... it provides some additional insight for some, in terms of eating habits and a type of food preparation.

If it is true and there is not cause/effect error... IMO it is likely only a piece of the puzzle.

[jimbo2012]

Originally Posted by justjim

Interesting post. Would it make a difference what you fried the foods with---the oil, etc. that you used?

I think all oils are 99% fat, we have eliminated oil from our diet now for 4 years.

Your arteries will love you for it, the plaque will be for the most part dissolved.

For the men your flag will go up easier

[Villages PL]

No one should be eating fried foods in the first place. It's asking for trouble to do so. Even if you're not overweight, it's a really poor dietary practice. You'd be getting too many calories from fat instead of more nutritious fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains etc. The goal, to achieve good health and longevity, is to get the most nutrition possible while consuming the least number of calories.

A lot of cellular damage comes from burning calories because "free radicals" are created in the process. Cells can repair themselves quickly but when DNA is damaged perhaps millions of times per day, it leaves the door open for repair-errors. This can lead to cancer and other health issues like speeding up the aging process. This is why the "CRON" diet was developed. CRON stands for Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition. (Stuffing yourself with fried foods and processed foods is the exact opposite.)

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

A lot of cellular damage comes from burning calories because "free radicals" are created in the process.

Does that mean that exercise is bad? I'd like to see the proven research on that before I give up my routine

[perrjojo]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Does that mean that exercise is bad? I'd like to see the proven research on that before I give up my routine

Ummmm, I'm with you on this one.

[jimbo2012]

here's two articles that may be food for thought

How Antioxidants Work: Preventing Free Radical Damage and Oxidation

Studies on free radicals, antioxidants, and co-factors

[Villages PL]

jimbo, the third sentence of your second link gave a good summary as follows: "If the generation of free radicals exceeds the protective effects of antioxidants, and some co-factors, this can cause oxidative damage which accumulates during the life cycle, and has been implicated in aging and age related diseases......."

But I think this may lead to more questions such as, "how much is enough with respect to antioxidants?" Exactly how many free radicals are being produced, by a particular individual, from stress and/or overexercising. Will we ever know for sure if we have it under control? Is there any amount of antioxidants that will prevent all oxidative damage? I doubt it. Perhaps the only true test result is to stay healthy.

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Does that mean that exercise is bad? I'd like to see the proven research on that before I give up my routine

It doesn't mean that all exercise is bad, within certain limits. We need to maintain good muscle tone and bone health etc.. But remember when athletes used to say, "no pain, no gain"? That's excessive and excessive, stressful, exercise can cause one to produce cortisol. So they may be doing more harm than good.

Speaking of research, I just did some. Sometimes, in order to illustrate a point, it helps to look for an exagerated example. So here's what I did: I just did an online search to find the average life expectancy of an elite athlete. The average elite athlete will die by the age of 67. That should tell you something about excessive exercising.

I once had an online chat with an elite athlete who was training for the olympics. She said she was burning between 6 and 7 thousand calories per day. That's not uncommon and it could be even higher for some athletes.

How about another statistic: NFL players have an average life expectancy of 58.

Let me know if you need more research and I'll see what I can do.

[jblum315]

Does that mean that many of us can consume fried food with impunity and never get fat? Gee, I'd like to be one of those people. Pleez, Santa!

[scroll]

My son is a MD and PHD and teaching professor at the University of Pennsylvania and has reviewed this article. Weight loss or gain is 99.9 percent dependent on caloric intake and caloric burn. There are some thyroid issues and a few rare diseases that represent the other one tenth of one percent. All this study proves is that a very specific genes processes fat differently and has nothing to due with weight gain or loss. There was no double blind study done to show any substantial direct correlation that obese people burn fat differently. The study is intended to make dietitians aware of this but has no real ah ha validity. If you want to loss weight eat less or burn more calories with exercise.

[Shimpy]

I exercise 4 times a week and know I am burning off calories, but I can't burn off the deposits that the fat does to my arteries.