Two Slices of Ham a Day May Raise Risk of Type 2 Diabetes by 15%

Mar. 15, 2025

Stock image of a ham sandwich.Photo:Getty

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Researchers at the University of Cambridge looked at the meat consumption of 2 million adults in what is believed to be the “largest meta-analysis on the topic.” Their findings were published inThe Lancet.

They studied the impacts on health of those who ate 100g a day of red meat, which they said “equates to a daily consumption of a small steak or a medium-sized hamburger patty” and 50g a day ofprocessed meat, which is “two or three slices of bacon or a medium-sized sausage.”

Stock image of processed meats.Getty

Or two slices of ham, asThe Guardianpoints out. “Our research provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of an association between eatingprocessed meatand unprocessed red meat and a higher future risk oftype 2 diabetes,” said Prof Nita Forouhi, of the University of Cambridge, a senior author of the study, according toThe Guardian.

“It supports recommendations to limit the consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat to reduce type 2 diabetes cases in the population.”

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Experts, however, have said there are other factors.

“The authors did try to control for other risk factors associated with increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, including having a higher body weight, smoking, alcohol, low vegetable intake,” Dr. Duane Mellor, of the British Dietetic Association,told the BBC.

Stock image of sausages, bacon, and proscuitto.Getty

As theMayo Clinicexplains, with type 2 diabetes, “there are primarily two problems. The pancreas does not produce enough insulin — a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into the cells. And cells respond poorly to insulin and take in less sugar.”

There are many risk factors, but weight, inactivity, and fat distribution — which the Mayo Clinic says is “storing fat mainly in the abdomen rather than the hips and thighs”— can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

This isn’t the first time red meat has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes; last year, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed data from 216,695 participants.

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They determined that “intakes of total, processed, andunprocessed red meatwere positively and approximately linearly associated with higher risks of type 2 diabetes” — noting that that 22,761 study participants had developed type 2 diabetes.

And even though the newest study includes evidence with “observational nature,” Prof. Naveed Sattar, an expert in cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, told the BBC, “The data suggest cutting red and processed meats from diets may not only protect people from heart disease and stroke but also from type 2 diabetes, a disease on the rise worldwide.”

source: people.com