--- title: Fried Foods Are Bad for Fat Genes description: Study shows frequent consumption can have twice the weight gain effect than those at risk for obesity canonical: https://time.com/29320/fried-foods-are-bad-for-fat-genes/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-18T23:00:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:50:04.978Z article:section: Health og:title: Fried food has a greater impact on people at a higher risk for obesity og:description: Study shows frequent consumption can have twice the weight gain effect than those at risk for obesity og:url: https://time.com/29320/fried-foods-are-bad-for-fat-genes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79f98f60b0487942/6986860935ba6f219bc0106e/80566818-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5122 og:image:height: 2881 og:image:alt: 80566818 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fried food has a greater impact on people at a higher risk for obesity twitter:description: Study shows frequent consumption can have twice the weight gain effect than those at risk for obesity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79f98f60b0487942/6986860935ba6f219bc0106e/80566818-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fried Foods Are Bad for Fat Genes > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=91398629-3432-4984-9d23-9b405fa2d40d&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 18, 2014 11:00 PM UTC  A cast iron frying pan of fried chicken, USA, Tennessee, Nashville A cast iron frying pan of fried chicken, USA, Tennessee, Nashville Melodie DeWitt—Getty Images/fStop by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 18, 2014 11:00 PM UTC We know that some people are dealt a genetically more difficult hand when it comes to obesity, as studies have shown that genes play a role in how we process high-fat and high-sugar diets. Now it’s time to cross fried foods off that list, if you haven’t already. Of course, fried food isn’t good for anyone’s health. But a new study published in the journal _BMJ_ found that eating fried food interacts with genes associated with obesity and can double one’s risk for becoming obese. The researchers studied 37,000 men and women, and had them fill out questionnaires that asked how often they consumed fried food. They also assessed the participants’ genetic risk based on 32 different gene variants known to be related to body mass index (BMI) and obesity. Participants who had the highest genetic score for obesity and ate fried foods four or more times a week had a BMI around two pounds greater than those who ate fried foods once a week. But for people with the lowest genetic scores, the differences were closer to one pound. Eating fried food more than four times a week had twice the effect on the body for people at the greatest genetic risk for obesity. But not being genetically predisposed to obesity hardly makes one immune. Another recent study [published](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2014-03/bmj-het031114.php) in _BMJ_ reports that people who are exposed to a lot of takeaway restaurants around their homes or work are more likely to consume those foods, and subsequently more likely to be obese. Other research has shown that [food deserts](http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/24/can-pop-up-grocery-stores-solve-the-problem-of-food-deserts/)–places where fresh food is hard to come by–[contribute to the obesity epidemic](http://healthland.time.com/2011/07/08/america-sees-its-obesity-rates-and-raises-them/) as well. “This work provides formal proof of interaction between a combined genetic risk score and environment in obesity,” Alexandra Blakemore and Dr. Jessica Buxton, professors at Imperial College London wrote in a corresponding editorial. But they’re not exactly hopeful that this knowledge will made a difference. The results “are unlikely to influence public health advice,” they write, “since most of us should be eating fried food more sparingly anyway.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/29320/fried-foods-are-bad-for-fat-genes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/29320/fried-foods-are-bad-for-fat-genes/"},"headline":"Fried Foods Are Bad for Fat Genes","datePublished":"2014-03-18T23:00:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:50:04.978Z","description":"Study shows frequent consumption can have twice the weight gain effect than those at risk for obesity","url":"https://time.com/29320/fried-foods-are-bad-for-fat-genes/","keywords":["Obesity","Genetics","Fast Food"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79f98f60b0487942/6986860935ba6f219bc0106e/80566818-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79f98f60b0487942/6986860935ba6f219bc0106e/80566818-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"80566818","caption":"80566818","creditText":"Melodie DeWitt—Getty Images/fStop","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/obesity/","name":"Obesity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/29320/fried-foods-are-bad-for-fat-genes/","name":"Fried Foods Are Bad for Fat Genes"}}]}] ```