Does eating ham, bacon and red meat increase the risk of developing type two diabetes?

Processed meat and red meat has been making headlines for their potentially adverse effects on the body. What does the research actually say? That lunchtime staple, the humble ham sandwich , has come in for a bashing in the press recently. According to many reports, eating two slices of ham a day can increase your risk of developing type two diabetes .

But what’s the science behind these headlines? The research offers a more complex picture. A new study from the University of Cambridge highlighted an association between developing type two diabetes and eating processed meat like ham and bacon, and red meat such as beef and lamb. This led to headlines suggesting the risk was mainly linked to ham sandwiches.

This seems to have come from the press release, which used ham as the example to quantify the amount of processed meat associated with a 15% increased risk of developing type two diabetes over 10 years..