Eat less processed meat (ham, bacon, sausages, luncheon meat)

18. Eat less processed meat (ham, bacon, sausages, luncheon meat)

Cost: It costs nothing — in fact, it saves money — and doesn’t take extra time. The hard part is simply eating less of a food you really enjoy.

In plain terms: People who eat the most ham, bacon, sausages, and similar processed meats have a roughly 20% higher chance of dying during the same period compared to those who eat the least. For every extra serving of processed meat consumed daily, that risk rises by another 20%.

Benefit: When multiple long‑term studies are pooled together (without separating participants into groups), the group eating the most processed meat faces about a 23% higher risk of death (RR 1.23) than the group eating the least. For all red meat combined, the increase is about 29% (RR 1.29). Unprocessed red meat raises the risk by roughly 10% (RR 1.10), though this difference isn’t statistically significant. Another analysis looks at daily intake: each extra daily serving of processed meat adds about a 23% higher death risk (RR 1.23), while each extra serving of red meat adds about 10% (RR 1.10).

Evidence grade: A

Sources: Larsson SC, Orsini N (2014). Red meat and processed meat consumption and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology. <https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwt261>; Schwingshackl L et al. (2017). Food groups and risk of all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. <https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.117.153148>; Johnston BC et al. (2019). Unprocessed Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption: Dietary Guideline Recommendations From the NutriRECS Consortium. Annals of Internal Medicine. <https://doi.org/10.7326/M19-1621> (disputing party NutriRECS guide)

Notes: This is a contested area. The NutriRECS guidelines apply the standard GRADE evidence‑rating system and deem these studies “not very reliable.” They end up giving only a very weak recommendation: “continue eating as you do now.” The debate centers on whether the evidence is strong enough, not on the overall direction of the findings. No studies have shown any benefit from eating processed meat, and the effect of unprocessed red meat appears minimal and statistically insignificant. The key takeaway is to limit processed meat consumption.