For the research, Pilar Guallar-Castillón and her colleagues interviewed 40,757 healthy adults aged 29 to 69 who were asked about their culinary habits for 11 years. During that time, they underwent several questionnaires to find out in detail their diet and cooking, specifying in the case of fried foods which oil they used to use.
After assessing their health, the authors found “no association” between the consumption of fried foods and an increased risk of coronary heart disease, despite having found a high consumption of fried foods, using olive or sunflower oil as in the rest from Mediterranean countries. In fact, the authors acknowledge thatthe results “probably would not be the same” in other countries where refined oils are used more for frying.
In an editorial attached to the publication of the study, Professor Michael Leitzmann, from the University of Regensburg in Germany, has highlighted how the studydebunks the myth that “frying food is generally bad for the heart”. However, it specifies that all the components of the meals are “relevant”, both the type of food that is fried (if they are vegetables – peppers, aubergines, onions -, meat – chicken fillets, veal -, fish or more caloric foods -churros, fats-) as the oil used for it.
