The evidence of a link between processed meat and cancer is now strong enough for some organisations to recommend not eating any. There’s also increasing evidence of a link between processed meat and type 2 diabetes.

And now, a new study has added to the list of woes for lovers of processed meat by linking it to an increased risk of dementia. But this latest association may not be quite so convincing.

The new study, from the University of Leeds, used data from the UK Biobank, which is a biomedical database containing detailed genetic and health information from nearly half a million people, aged 40-69.

The researchers measured how frequently participants reported consuming processed and unprocessed meat, and then monitored cases of dementia over an eight-year period.