This could happen to your body if you eat just one hot dog every day

A new study pooled results from dozens of prior investigations to test whether small, everyday portions of processed meat, sugary drinks, and industrial trans fats are tied to common diseases.

The analysis found that even modest daily intake is associated with higher risks of type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, and ischemic heart disease.

The estimates were not huge, but they were consistent, and they appeared even at low levels of intake such as a single hot dog or a 12 ounce soda. The researchers emphasized how risk rose with more consumption across the board.

Lead author Dr. Demewoz Haile is a research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle (IHME).

Processed meat and daily habits

Experts who were asked to weigh in stressed how steady habits add up over time, and they pointed to the reliability of the pattern across many datasets. 

“Habitual consumption of even small amounts of processed meat, sugary drinks, and trans fatty acids is linked to increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease and colorectal cancer,” said Dr. Haile.

Another nutrition scientist urged people to limit these foods for the long haul rather than chase perfection. 

Current research, consistent with earlier findings, indicates that the best way to improve health is to avoid or keep intake of processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and industrially produced trans fats as low as possible.

How the study was done

The team used a Burden of Proof approach, a type of meta-analysis that models how risk changes across the full range of intake while grading the consistency of the evidence.

Most associations in this paper received two stars in that framework, which the authors describe as weak but still meaningful, with hot dogs and other processed meat and ischemic heart disease receiving one star.

The dose response curves rose steadily, and they rose fastest at the low end of intake. That shape helps explain why small daily portions can move risk in population studies even if the per person effect looks modest.

What counts as “processed meat”

Processed meat includes products preserved by smoking, curing, salt, or chemical preservatives, such as hot dogs, bacon, sausages, and deli meats.

Processed meat is classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), with colorectal cancer as the main concern.

Sugar sweetened beverages cover regular sodas, fruit drinks that are not 100 percent juice, energy drinks, sports drinks, and sweetened coffees and teas.

The 12 ounce can is a common serving, and that size showed measurable links with type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease in the analysis.

How these foods may harm the body

Processed meats often contain nitrite that can form nitrosamines, compounds that can damage cells in the digestive tract.

High heat cooking of meats can also produce polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines, which have been tied to tumor formation in prior lab and epidemiology work.

Sugar sweetened beverages deliver large amounts of rapidly absorbed sugar without much satiety, which drives excess calorie intake and strains insulin regulation over time.

Industrial trans fatty acids raise LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol, a pattern known to promote plaque buildup in arteries and increase cardiovascular risk.

What the evidence shows

Observational data cannot prove causation, and dietary questionnaires can be imprecise, so caution is warranted when interpreting the size of the effects. 

“When we look at the actual data there, it’s really remarkably consistent and remarkably strong, and even in the lower dose of consumption, we can still see an increased risk of disease,” said Dr. Mingyang Song, associate professor of clinical epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH).

Others reminded readers to avoid fear and to keep diet in perspective alongside activity, stress, and access to care.

The limitations of recall based diet tools and differences in study design leave some uncertainty, but none of that erases the pattern that higher intake tracks with higher disease risk.

Processed meat and human health

Global guidance suggests keeping free sugars to less than 10 percent of daily calories and ideally closer to 5 percent, and that directly targets sugar sweetened drinks, as laid out in a World Health Organization guideline.

In the United States, the Dietary Guidelines also advise limiting added sugars to under 10 percent of calories across the life span, a point detailed in the federal guidelines.

Many countries are now removing industrial trans fats from the food supply, and the World Health Organization’s REPLACE policy provides a template for doing it.

That means fewer packaged foods will contain partially hydrogenated oils, but checking labels remains wise because trace amounts can still show up.

“The goal shouldn’t be perfection but rather a healthy and sensible dietary pattern that allows room for enjoyment,” said Dr. Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom.

Progress does not require a perfect diet or a strict set of rules. Small, steady changes, like swapping a daily soda for water or seltzer and choosing unprocessed proteins more often, can bring intake closer to those targets. 

The study is published in Nature Medicine.

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