Fried food 'doesn't cause heart disease or premature death'

By Charlotte Beugge

Health nuts everywhere can throw out their steamers and use their frying pans with pride - a study just out has shown there is no link between eating fried food and heart disease or premature death.

But before you reach for the lard to deep fry a Mars Bar, it's sadly not that straightforward. What's crucial is the oil you fry in which must be sunflower or olive oil - and you need to be frying sardines rather than sausages.

The study was completed in Spain, and tracked 40,000 adults over ten years. It showed no link between eating fried food and risk of coronary disease.

But what's crucial is that it was a Spanish study, where what's being fried is more likely to be meat, fish or vegetables than egg, bacon and chips.

Victoria Taylor, senior heart health dietician at the British Heart Foundation said: "Before we all reach for the frying pan it's important to remember this was a study of a Mediterranean diet rather than British fish and chips.

"Our diet in the UK will differ from Spain so we cannot say this result would be the same for us too."

Olive and sunflower oil are unsaturated fats, while butter and lard are saturated fats. Annual British consumption of olive oil has doubled to 28 million litres compared with just ten years ago.