Does ham cause diabetes? Scientist simply don’t know

By now most will have seen several alarmist headlines claiming that eating just two slices of ham a day could raise your risk of developing diabetes. Even the serious papers are splashing it.

However, it’s instructive to compare the caveats contained in the Cambridge study published in the Lancet, with the confidently reported health scare claims in the media. The two paint different pictures, which only serves to confuse consumers and make healthy choices more difficult.

The Cambridge study, by its own admission, says that “the underlying mechanisms that link meat intake with the development of type 2 diabetes are not fully established”, and goes on to say that: “Notably, the trials were only able to assess short-term effects of meat consumption on glycaemic traits rather than long-term effects on disease risk”. It concludes that from the results of such randomised controlled trials that seek to link meat consumption with risk markers for type 2 diabetes “no definitive effects have been reported.”

Since the study was published, several diet experts have questioned the claims including dietitian Carrie Ruxton. You can read her assessment (and some interesting additional comments) here.