A large review in Nature Medicine looked at how everyday treats—processed meats, sugary drinks and industrial trans-fats—affect our health. Researchers sifted through dozens of earlier studies and lined up the numbers using the same yardstick.

Even small, routine amounts mattered. Eating deli meats or bacon (anywhere from a sliver to two rashers a day) was linked to an 11 % jump in type 2 diabetes risk and a 7 % rise in colorectal cancer. A can of soda or other sugar-sweetened drink pushed diabetes risk up by about 8 %, and heart-disease risk by 2 %. Trans-fats—still lurking in some packaged snacks and fried foods—nudged heart-disease risk up roughly 3 %.

The authors graded each link with just two stars out of five, meaning the evidence is patchy and can’t prove cause and effect. Still, all the arrows point in the same direction: more of these foods, more chronic disease.

Because diabetes, heart disease and bowel cancer are so common, even these modest percentages translate into a lot of real-world illness. The takeaway is familiar but clear—keep processed meats, sugary drinks and trans-fat-heavy snacks to a minimum until stronger evidence gives us a better safety line.