Many fried and fast foods have high levels of "bad fats," such as saturated and trans fat, which can negatively affect your heart and impede blood flow due to a a build-up of fatty plaque in the arteries.

What’s more, fried potatoes, such as French fries, have been associated (along with other foods) with a greater risk of type 2 diabetes, which is known to cause sexual health problems in both men and women.

Sass says the type of oil used to fry the food is key. "If it’s fried in partially hydrogenated oil it would have trans fat (worse than saturated fat)," she says. "If it was fried in a liquid plant oil, the (food) may be very low in saturated fat."