Wednesday July 2, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study suggests that eating fried foods too often may increase risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease or coronary artery disease (CAD).

The study shows that those having the highest intake of fried foods were 55% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus and 21% more likely to develop coronary heart disease, compared to those having the lowest intake of fried foods.

The study was based on data from participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.  All participants were free of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline.

After adjustment for hypertension, high cholesterol, and body mass index, the increases in the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease were attenuated.

The study concluded "Frequent fried-food consumption was significantly associated with risk of incident T2D (diabetes mellitus) and moderately with incident CAD (coronary artery disease), and these associations were largely mediated by body weight and comorbid hypertension and hypercholesterolemia." (David Liu, PHD)

Cahill LE, Pan A, Chiuve SE, Sun Q, Willett WC, Hu FB, Rimm EB.  Fried-food consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease: a prospective study in 2 cohorts of US women and men.  Am J Clin Nutr. 2014 Jun 18. pii: ajcn.084129.