MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Luc Djousse, MD, ScD, FAHA Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Editor-in-Chief, Current Nutrition Reports Director of Research, Division of Aging Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MA 02120 MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Djousse: While some studies have reported a higher risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure with frequent consumption of fried foods, other investigators did not confirm those results. To date, only few studies have evaluated whether frequent consumption of fried foods can raise the risk of developing heart failure. Frying foods not only increases the energy density of foods, but also increase the amount of trans fats. Trans fats can lead to development of heart disease and diabetes and consumption of energy-dense foods in large quantity can lead to weight gain and resulting cardiovascular consequences. We followed about 15000 US male physicians who were free of heart failure for an average of 10 years and found that frequent consumption of fried foods was related to a higher risk of developing heart failure. For example, people that consumed fried foods daily or more were twice more likely to develop heart failure than individuals who consumed fried foods less than once per week. (more…)