Eating red meat raises the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Eating ham sandwiches can cause type 2 diabetes
Research involving two million people around the globe provides compelling evidence of a link between meat consumption and the health condition as it was found that eating just two slices of ham per day increases the danger of the disease by 15 per cent.
The experts conducted analysis on people from 20 countries across the world and say that their findings support recommendations to limit the amount of red meat that humans eat in order to cut the huge amount (totalling over 400 million) of people being diagnosed with the condition.
Professor Nita Forouhi, a senior author of the study at the University of Cambridge, said: "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.
"It supports recommendations to limit the consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat to reduce type 2 diabetes cases in the population."