Research

Mixed

Consumption of processed meat is associated with a significantly higher incidence of coronary heart disease (42% higher risk per 50-g serving per day) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (19% higher risk per 50-g serving per day).

Limit your intake of processed meats (such as bacon, sausages, hot dogs, and deli meats) to reduce your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The study suggests that each daily serving of processed meat increases your risk, whereas unprocessed red meat did not show the same significant association in this analysis.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Conversely, processed meat intake was associated with 42% higher risk of CHD (n=5; relative risk per 50-g serving per day=1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 1.89; P=0.04) and 19% higher risk of diabetes mellitus (n=7; relative risk=1.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.11 to 1.27; P<0.001).
Renata Micha et al. · Circulation · 2010

Why this rating

Based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of 20 studies (17 prospective cohorts, 3 case-control) involving over 1.2 million individuals.

Source

Red and Processed Meat Consumption and Risk of Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes Mellitus

Renata Micha et al. · Circulation · 2010

DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.109.924977

Meta-analysis · 20 studiesCited 1,254×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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