In a Harvard University study of more than one million people, researchers found that those who ate just 50 grams of processed meat (like sausages) per day raised their risk of heart disease and diabetes. The same risk was not seen as eating even twice as much unprocessed meat like beef, lamb or pork, the BBC reports, even though they had a similar fat content. In the journal Circulation, the team writes that given the similar quantities of cholesterol and saturated fat, the added risk could be due to salt and preservatives found in processed meat, which is any meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting (including bacon, sausages, and lunch meat). On average, each 50 gram serving of processed meat consumed in a day (about one sausage or a couple bacon rashers) raised the chance of developing coronary heart disease by 42 per cent, and diabetes by 19 per cent.