Everybody knows that fried food is bad for the health but over time, researchers found that consumption of these kinds of meals can take a toll on the body.

In a recently published paper, a team of researchers linked fried food, such as fried chicken and fried fish, to a higher risk of death from any cause except cancer.

Their findings were published on Wednesday, Jan. 23, in the journal BMJ.

Health Effects Of Eating Fried Chicken 

"We know fried food consumption is something very common in the United States and also around the world," stated Wei Bao, the lead author of the study. "Unfortunately, we know very little about long-term health effect of fried food consumption."

To probe the long-term effects of fried food consumption to the body, the researchers analyzed the food habits of over 100,000 postmenopausal women across the United States from 1993 to 1998. The participants completed a questionnaire about their consumption, including portion size, of over 122 food items. The researchers also monitored factors related to mortality such as educational level, income, total energy consumption, an overall diet quality.

They found that women who eat one or more servings of fried food a day have an 8 percent higher risk of death from all causes compared to those who ate less. More specifically, women who ate fried chicken every day have a 13 percent higher risk of death from all causes and 12 percent higher risk of dying from a heart-related complication compared to their peers.

Fried fish is not any better. Women who ate fried fish every day have a 7 percent higher risk of death and 13 percent higher risk of heart-related death.

Surprisingly, the researchers did not find a link between specific fried food and cancer.

Why Fried Food Might Lead To Early Death

According to Bao, the link between fried food and negative health issues is caused by the combined effects of the food itself and the frying process. For example, while fish has been found to aid in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, frying it can significantly reduce its health benefits.

Although the research only involved women 50 years old and above, the researchers believe that the findings can also be applied to men. Previous studies that investigated the health effects of fried food did not see differences in consequences between genders.