Saving your bacon-don't eat it!

Swapping sausages or bacon for beans or tofu could cut a person’s risk of dementia by nearly a quarter, a study has found.

The research looked at the links between processed red meat consumption and a person’s risk of developing dementia.

Scientists from Harvard analysed a long-term study involving more than 130,000 people, tracking the health of nurses and other health professionals working in the US.

They were tracked for up to 43 years and entered information on their dietary habits every two to four years.

These questionnaires asked about how often they ate processed red meat, such as bacon, hot dogs, sausages, salami and other processed sandwich meat.

They were also asked about their consumption of nuts and legumes, including peanut butter, peanuts, walnuts, other nuts, string beans, beans, peas, soy milk and tofu.

More than 11,000 cases of dementia were identified during the follow-up period.

Processed meat twice a week raises risk by 14 per cent

Consuming two servings of processed red meat each week appeared to raise the risk of dementia by 14 per cent, compared to consumption of about three servings a month, according to the study abstract, which has been presented to the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in the US.