--- title: 5 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Eat Greasy Food description: Why is eating greasy food bad for you? Here are five things eating greasy food does to your body, from nausea to diarrhea and acne. canonical: https://time.com/4996776/greasy-food-bad-for-you/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-25T19:12:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:59:45.618Z article:section: Health og:title: 5 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Eat Greasy Food og:description: It's not pretty og:url: https://time.com/4996776/greasy-food-bad-for-you/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba1dc1b7aeb82dc3/6988e34ffb4eac00148944be/eating-greasy-food.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Shake Shack Raises Prices For Upcoming IPO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Eat Greasy Food twitter:description: It's not pretty twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba1dc1b7aeb82dc3/6988e34ffb4eac00148944be/eating-greasy-food.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Eat Greasy Food > 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 daily 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 daily 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.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 25, 2017 7:12 PM UTC  CHICAGO, IL - JANUARY 28: In this photo illustration a cheeseburger and french fries are served up at a Shake Shack restaurant on January 28, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. The burger chain, with currently has 63 locations, is expected to go public this week with an IPO priced between $17 to $19 a share. The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SHAK. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images) CHICAGO, IL - JANUARY 28: In this photo illustration a cheeseburger and french fries are served up at a Shake Shack restaurant on January 28, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. The burger chain, with currently has 63 locations, is expected to go public this week with an IPO priced between $17 to $19 a share. The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SHAK. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 25, 2017 7:12 PM UTC Sometimes, a juicy cheeseburger and an order of hot, crispy fries simply call your name. (Greasy foods are so beloved that they have an entire day devoted to them; National Greasy Foods Day is October 25.) While it’s fine to give in to your cravings now and then, it’s important to know how your nutrition choices, and those greasy foods in particular, affect your health. Does greasy food cause acne? Why does it make your stomach feel weird? And why is greasy food bad for you, anyway? We consulted Ayla Barmmer, a Boston-based registered dietitian, to find out. Here’s what eating greasy foods does to your body. ## It strains your digestive system “When we eat greasy foods like fried food, the sheer volume of fat puts a lot of pressure on our digestive system,” Barmmer said in an email to TIME. Of fat, carbs and protein, fat is the most slowly digested, and it requires enzymes and digestive juices, like bile and stomach acid, to break it down, she says. Everything from stress to medication can lower levels of these digestive juices, so many people are deficient to begin with, Barmmer says. Add in fat, and your digestive system will be working overtime, often leading to bloating, nausea and discomfort. ## It makes you run to the bathroom The most common symptom of digestive strain is an unpleasant one. “Not only will food just sit in your stomach, but it may enter the intestines inadequately digested,” Barmmer says. “Sometimes you wind up seeing greasy or oily stools in these cases.” Many people also experience diarrhea and stomach pain after eating greasy food. ## It throws your gut bacteria out of whack More and more evidence suggests that [what you eat affects your gut bacteria](http://time.com/3853618/mcdonalds-gut-bacteria/), also known as your microbiome. Downing a cheeseburger and fries, Barmmer says, isn’t doing those microorganisms any favors. “Greasy foods do not contain the nourishing, healthy fats that we find in things like avocados, fish, extra virgin olive oil and even butter,” she says. Eating more refined vegetable oils than nourishing fats, she says, tips the body’s balance of fatty acids, which in turn may throw off everything from hormone levels to immune health. ## Greasy food may cause acne You may not see zits directly after a big meal, but Barmmer says that greasy food likely does play a role in acne. “The effect is indirect, occurring over time and as a result of a dietary pattern of eating,” she says. “Acne is largely caused by hormonal imbalances and/or bacterial imbalances, so greasy foods cause acne by way of harming gut health.” ## It raises your risk for heart disease and diabetes If your diet consistently includes greasy foods, Barmmer says, you’ll likely see your risk for chronic conditions—particularly heart disease—go up. A [2014 study](http://time.com/2907248/fried-food-linked-to-diabetes-and-heart-disease-with-an-asterisk/) from researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that people who ate fried foods between four and six times per week saw their risk for Type 2 diabetes climb 39%, and their risk for coronary heart disease increase by 23%. 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