How much meat is healthy? What guidelines and studies say

When people ask whether meat is healthy, they usually mean two different things: processed meat such as sausage, ham, bacon and salami, and unprocessed red meat such as beef, pork or lamb. The evidence differs a lot between the two.

Processed meat: the clearest evidence

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, classifies processed meat as carcinogenic, in the same group as tobacco. This means meat that has been salted, cured, fermented or smoked. Each 50 g portion eaten daily raises the risk of colorectal cancer by about 18%.¹

The group only says how firmly the link is established, not how large the risk is. Sausage is not as dangerous as smoking. Worldwide, about 34,000 cancer deaths a year are estimated to be due to diets high in processed meat.¹

The World Cancer Research Fund reaches the same conclusion: there is convincing evidence that processed meat causes colorectal cancer. It therefore advises eating very little, if any.² A meta-analysis also found that 50 g of processed meat a day was linked to a 42% higher risk of coronary heart disease and a 19% higher risk of diabetes.³

Red meat: probable, but less firmly established

For unprocessed red meat, the picture is less clear. IARC classifies it as “probably carcinogenic”. If the link is causal, colorectal cancer risk would rise by about 17% for each 100 g portion eaten daily.¹ The World Cancer Research Fund advises no more than about three portions of red meat a week, 350 to 500 g cooked weight in total.²

For unprocessed red meat, the 2010 meta-analysis found no statistically significant link with coronary heart disease or diabetes, but it was based on only four to five studies.³ A much larger 2024 analysis of 31 cohort studies with almost 2 million adults found a 10% higher diabetes risk for each 100 g of unprocessed red meat a day, and a 15% higher risk for each 50 g of processed meat.⁶

An example: Switzerland

The Swiss dietary recommendations published in 2024 advise eating meat at most 2 to 3 times a week, including poultry and processed meat, with a portion of 100 to 120 g. At most, that is 360 g a week. They also recommend legumes at least once a week, about 60 g uncooked.⁴

Actual eating looks different. In the national menuCH survey of 2014 and 2015, about 2,000 adults aged 18 to 75 ate 111 g of meat a day on average, 44 g of it processed. That is about three times the mid-range recommendation of about 35 g a day, measured ready to eat.⁵ It is also more than twice the maximum of 360 g a week, or about 51 g a day.

What this means day to day

Keeping meat within these limits and cutting back above all on sausage, ham and bacon follows what the evidence supports most clearly. Beans, lentils and chickpeas provide protein without meat.

Meat calculator

In a normal week

Meals with red meatbeef, veal, pork, lamb−

2

+

Meals with poultrychicken, turkey−

2

+

Portions of sausage and cold cutsalso ham, bacon, salami−

3

+

Meat per mealg

Processed meat per portiong

Meat per week590 g7 portions

Swiss dietary recommendations

!7 portions, 4 more than the 2 to 3 a week at most, poultry and processed meat included.

World Cancer Research Fund

✓Red meat: 220 g, within the limit of about 350 to 500 g cooked a week.

!Processed meat: 150 g a week, 21 g a day on average. Advice: very little, if any.

For context: according to the WHO’s cancer agency, colorectal cancer risk rises by about 18% for every 50 g of processed meat eaten daily.

Weights are approximate. The World Cancer Research Fund counts cooked meat, which weighs less than raw meat.

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