A plate of fried chicken may have a more significant impact on an individual's weight if they have certain genetic risk factors for obesity, according to a recent study Medscape Medical News reported.

Researchers found that people who consumed fried food more than four times a week had twice as big an effect on body mass index (BMI) for those who are genetically predisposed to obesity than those who are not predisposed to obesity, according to a press release.

"It's a pretty significant difference," lead study author Lu Qi, an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School told Fox News. "High genetic risk may amplify the adverse effect of fast food. On the other hand, high consumption of fried food may also amplify the genetic effect of obesity."

Although fried food consumption and genetic variants are associated with adiposity, or fatness, "the interaction between these two risk factors in relation to BMI and obesity has not been examined," researchers said.

For the study, investigators analyzed interactions between food consumption and genetic risk associated with obesity in more than 37,000 men and women taking part in three large health trials. They used food frequency questionnaires to assess fried food consumption (both at home and away from home) and a genetic risk score based on 32 known genetic variants associated with BMI and obesity.

Investigators carefully controlled for lifestyle factors including physical activity and sugar-sweetened beverage intake.

"This work provides formal proof of interaction between a combined genetic risk score and environment in obesity," write Professor Alexandra Blakemore and Dr. Jessica Buxton at Imperial College London in an editorial.

However, they said the results "are unlikely to influence public health advice, since most of us should be eating fried food more sparingly anyway."

The study was recently published in BMJ-British Medical Journal .