Eating Processed Meat Can Increase Your Risk of Diabetes, According to New Study

A new study is shedding light on the relationship between meat consumption and diabetes. 

Researchers from the University of Cambridge shared their findings in the latest edition of the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, which showed that regular consumption of processed meat and, to a lesser extent, regular consumption of unprocessed red meat both lead to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 

To come to this conclusion, the research team analyzed data from 31 study cohorts that participated in the InterConnect project. Cohorts included those from the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific regions. As the study explained, participants were eligible for inclusion if they were over the age of 18 and had “available data on dietary consumption and incident type 2 diabetes.” This added up to 1,966,444 eligible study participants. 

“Our research provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of an association between eating processed meat and unprocessed red meat and a higher future risk of type 2 diabetes, Professor Nita Forouhi of the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, and a senior author on the paper, said in a statement. “It supports recommendations to limit the consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat to reduce type 2 diabetes cases in the population.” 

Just how much processed and unprocessed meat will increase your risk? As the authors noted, for processed meat, it’s about 50 grams a day, or the “equivalent to 2 slices of ham,” according to the University of Cambridge. That led to a 15% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years. The consumption of 100 grams of unprocessed red meat a day, or a piece of meat about the size of a small steak, was associated with a 10% higher risk of type 2 diabetes in the same period. As far as poultry is concerned, the team found a link but added that the data was not strong enough to draw a distinct conclusion. 

“While our findings provide more comprehensive evidence on the association between poultry consumption and type 2 diabetes than was previously available, the link remains uncertain and needs to be investigated further,” Forouhi added. 

Of course, this is far from the first study to point out that processed foods may not be the best choice for your health — including ultra-processed meat substitutes.

In July, Food & Wine reported on one study presented at the Nutrition 2024 conference that followed the eating habits of more than 500,000 people over a 30-year span. The team found that those who ate higher amounts of ultra-processed foods were 10% more likely to die from all-cause mortality than those who opted to eat whole foods instead. 

And in early August, Food & Wine also reported on another study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe that showed eating ultra-processed plant-based foods can raise a person’s risk of experiencing serious health events like heart attacks and strokes. The findings stated that for every 10% increase in calories from plant-based ultra-processed foods, study participants had a 5% higher risk of developing heart disease and a 6% higher risk of coronary heart disease. 

Still, some medical professionals are saying you should take this study with a grain of salt, as the researchers were unable to control for other factors like a family history of diabetes and insulin resistance. As  Dr. Duane Mellor, a dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, told CNN, it’s “possible that the increased risk associated with processed and red meat intake could be a result of these other confounding factors.” However, others like Prof Naveed Sattar, an expert in cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, shared with BBC, “This is an important study which, despite the inevitable observational nature of the evidence, is very well done.”

So, what do the Cambridge researchers think you should do? It’s simple. As they wrote in their concluding remarks, their study supports “the notion that lowering the consumption of unprocessed red meat and processed meat could benefit public health.”