Scientists who followed the lives of 450,000 people aged 36 to 69 for 13 years have shown that those who eat more processed meats (ham, bacon, sausages, salamis etc) have a 72 per cent increased risk of dying early from heart disease, and an 11 per cent increased risk of dying early from cancer. This was true even after allowing for factors such as exercise, alcohol and smoking levels.
Professor Sabine Rohrmann, who led the analysis of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study, said "Overall, we estimate that three per cent of premature deaths each year could be prevented if people ate less than 20g processed meat per day".
The researchers also round an indication that eating a lot of red meat resulted in higher death rates, but the numbers were not statistically significant.