14 DAY TRIAL // Fried chicken can kill, as can crispy bacon and other high-fat, processed meats, researchers with the University of Alabama at Birmingham warn in a report published earlier this week in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.
The team, led by specialist James M. Shikany, argues that, according to their investigations into the matter at hand, fried foods and especially fried meats make people more vulnerable to heart trouble.
Specifically, the researchers claim that such high-fat dishes, commonly referred to as the Southern-style diet, correlate with a 56% increase in an individual's risk of developing a potentially deadly heart disease.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the food you eat, along with the amount, is a risk factor,” the scientists caution.
Documenting how a Southern-style diet affects heart health
To determine how a Southern-style diet affects the heart, researcher James M. Shikany and his colleagues looked at the overall health condition and the dietary choices of nearly 17,500 adults.
As noted, the specialists found that, when compared to the other volunteers, the ones who admitted to eating a Southern-style diet were 56% more likely to develop a heart disease serious enough to kill.
“I’m not surprised regular consumption of a Southern-style diet impacts heart disease, but the magnitude of the increased risk for heart disease was surprising,” study lead author James M. Shikany admitted in an interview.
Interestingly, the team argues that sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and sweet tea have a negative effect on heart health as well in that they make people more vulnerable to diseases of the cardiovascular system.
Hearth health aside, the same researchers not too long ago proved that a Southern-style diet also correlates with an increased risk of stroke and an increased risk of potentially fatal chronic kidney disease.
