This is the healthy amount of chips you can eat, according to Harvard study

The golden crispy crunch, a splash of ketchup or a drizzle of mayo, they're just mouth watering perfection.

It's not something we're willing to get rid of from our lives. But sadly, like most things that are too good to be true, chips aren't the healthiest treat around.

So maybe it's good to know just how many we can eat per serve to avoid health consequences.

That vital information has now been made public, thanks to a Harvard University study.

And the news isn't all that good.

Nutrition scientist Professor Eric Rimm has claimed that fries are so bad for us that we should consume no more than six at any one time to avoid the nasty health consequences associated with over consumption.

This sad news for chip lovers is based on research findings from a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2017, which found participants who consumed fried potato — such as chips, crisps or hash browns — more than two or three times each week, doubled their risk of an early death in an eight-year period. However this doesn't include whole, mashed or boiled, only deep fried varieties.

Researchers explained this finding by attributing the types of fat typically used to make fried potatoes to heart disease risk factors and pro-inflammatory processes in the body.

Professor Rimm explained that fried potatoes are essentially “starch bombs”, combining processed potato that have a pronounced impact on blood glucose levels with artery damaging processed fats that are heated to exceptionally high temperatures many times over.

One of the biggest issues when it comes to our consumption of fried potato is the ever increasing serving sizes.

A recommended serve of fries is just 15 individual chips, and yet the average serving size we find at a fast food chain is at least 55 fries, and that is not considering the upsized versions consumers are often encouraged to consume and the mega-sized servings at pubs and clubs.