Abstract P086: Fried Food Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease: Two Prospective Studies in US Men and Women

Introduction: Through the processes of oxidation, polymerization, and hydrogenation, the cooking method of frying modifies both foods and their frying medium. However, it remains unknown whether frequent consumption of fried foods is related to long-term cardio-metabolic health. Therefore, we aimed to prospectively examine fried food consumption and risk of developing incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) or coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: Fried food consumption was assessed by questionnaire among 71,281 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (1984-2008) and among 39,835 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2008) who were free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for T2D and CHD in each cohort, adjusted for demographic, diet, lifestyle and other cardio-metabolic risk factors. Results were pooled by inverse-variance-weighted random-effects meta-analysis. Results: We documented a total of 9452 incident T2D cases (6890 women and 2562 men) and 5296 incident CHD cases (2562 women and 2734 men). Compared to participants who consumed fried foods < once/week, individuals who consumed fried foods 1-3, 4-6 and ≥7 times/week had a significantly higher risk of T2D, with RRs (95% CIs) of 1.13 (1.00-1.28), 1.38 (1.30-1.46), and 1.51 (1.36-1.67), respectively. The association was generally stronger for eating fried food away from home (RR 1.79 [95% CI 1.45-2.21] comparing ≥4 times/week vs. < once/week) than eating fried food at home (corresponding RR 1.23 [95% CI 1.13-1.35]). For CHD the RRs (95% CIs) for eating fried food 1-3, 4-6 and ≥7 times per week were 1.05 (0.95-1.16), 1.18 (1.05-1.33), and 1.18 (1.02-1.36), respectively, compared to less than once per week. Eating fried food ≥4 times per week at home were associated with a higher risk of CHD (RR 1.17; 95% CI 1.04-1.32), but the association was not significant for eating fried food away from home (RR 1.10; 95% CI 0.92-1.32). When we included biennial measures of body mass index in the models as a potential mediator, all RRs were largely attenuated, albeit still significant for diabetes. Conclusions: Frequent fried food consumption was significantly positively associated with incident T2D while moderately related to incident CHD, and these associations were largely mediated by body weight. Further studies are still needed to confirm these results and elucidate whether habitual fried food consumption is a marker of unhealthy lifestyle or has a causal role in the development of T2D and CHD. Nevertheless, the present study has identified a risk factor for T2D and CHD that may be readily modifiable by lifestyle or cooking changes that lead to the consumption of less fried foods.