Fried-food consumption and risk of overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hypertension in adults: a meta-analysis of observational studies

Abstract

Recent studies have reported conflicting associations of fried-food consumption and risk of overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension, and a meta-analysis is not available. We aimed to explore the association between fried-food consumption and risk of overweight/obesity, T2DM and hypertension in adults through a meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science for studies published up to 17 June 2020. Pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by random-effects models. In comparing the highest to lowest fried-food intake, the pooled RRs (95% CIs) were 1.16 (1.07-1.25; I² = 71.0%, P_{heterogeneity} < 0.001) for overweight/obesity (cohort: 1.19 [0.97-1.47], n = 2; cross-sectional: 1.14 [1.03-1.27], n = 9), 1.07 (0.90-1.27; 84.7%) for T2DM (cohort: 1.01 [0.89-1.15], n = 9; case-control: 2.33 [1.80-3.01], n = 1), and 1.20 (1.05-1.38; I²=91.8%) for hypertension (cohort: 1.06 [0.98-1.15], n = 8; cross-sectional: 2.16 [0.59-7.87], n = 3). Our meta-analysis indicates fried-food consumption is associated with increased risk of overweight/obesity and hypertension but not T2DM in adults, but the findings should be interpreted with caution due to high heterogeneity and unstable subgroup analyses of this meta-analysis. More studies are warranted to investigate the total fried-food consumption and these health outcomes.

Keywords:

• Fried food
• overweight/obesity
• type 2 diabetes mellitus
• hypertension
• observational studies
• meta-analysis

Acknowledgements

PQ, MZ, FH, and DH conceived, designed and performed the work. PQ, XW, DL, XS, YZ, YL, YW, XL, YZ, QC, TW, XC, YL, HL extracted, analyzed or interpreted the data. PQ drafted the manuscript. YZ, XW, DL, XS, YZ, YL, YW, MH, RQ, SH, YZ, YF, XY, XL, TW, XC, YL, HL, MZ, DH, and FH revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 82073646); the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant no. 2019A1515011183); the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen of China (grant no. JCYJ20190808145805515); and the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Regional Immunity and Diseases (grant no. 2019B030301009).