As delicious as fried foods may be, they’re a recipe for disaster when it comes to health. Fried foods are a culprit in many medical issues in the United States. They’re linked to obesity and heart disease and, of course, acid reflux.
The worst offender cited in study after study is french fries, followed closely by fried chicken strips. But it isn’t just fries and chicken strips that cause reflux and heartburn. Any fried food, including healthy green vegetables battered and fried, can contribute to the problem.
There are several reasons fried foods, especially deep-fried foods, are linked with heartburn and reflux. The first is the extraordinarily high fat content found in fried foods. Foods with a lot of fat stay in the stomach much longer than other types of food, which is a recipe for heartburn and reflux.
And it’s not just the fat content found in fried foods that can lead to reflux. Fried foods weaken the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Researchers have yet to identify the specific reason that fried foods have this effect, but the link is well documented. Eating fried foods often and in large quantities may set you up for a gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) diagnosis.
