Dry-cured ham and heart health markers in adults
What it found
In five human trials, eating dry-cured ham led to a small drop in diastolic blood pressure and total cholesterol, with no clear changes in other blood fats or fasting blood sugar.
The authors say the evidence is limited and should be read with caution.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood pressure
Across the pooled trials, diastolic blood pressure was about 1.6 mmHg lower with dry-cured ham than with control. Systolic blood pressure showed no clear difference.
Cholesterol
Total cholesterol was about 5 mg/dL lower with dry-cured ham than with control. There were no clear differences in LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, or triglycerides.
Blood sugar
Fasting blood glucose showed no clear difference between dry-cured ham and control. The authors note the trials were short and mostly in people without diabetes.
Vascular and inflammatory markers
One trial found lower levels of a marker linked to blood vessel function and improved microvascular response. Another reported lower levels of some inflammatory signals and less platelet activation.
Oxidative stress
In one small study in older adults, antioxidant substances and enzyme activities rose, while a marker of lipid peroxidation fell. The authors say this finding comes from a small, non-randomized study.
What the authors conclude
“Overall, the available intervention evidence suggests that dry-cured ham consumption at doses ranging from 40 to 120 g/day does not appear to adversely affect conventional cardiometabolic risk markers in adults.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that moderate consumption of Iberian dry-cured ham, in controlled portions of 40 to 120 g/day, does not appear to adversely influence conventional cardiometabolic risk markers in the studied populations.
- They caution that the limited number of trials, their short duration, and the reliance on intermediate biomarkers preclude firm conclusions about long-term outcomes.
- They call for longer-term randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies that clearly distinguish dry-cured ham from other processed meats.
How it was done
Processed meats have been linked to heart and metabolic problems in large observational studies, but dry-cured ham differs in how it is made and in its fat profile. The authors wanted to see whether human trials focusing only on dry-cured ham show the same pattern.
They pooled five intervention studies from Spain, with 315 adults in total, where people ate 40 to 120 grams of dry-cured Iberian ham a day for 4 to 8 weeks. Three were randomized controlled trials, one was a prospective quasi-experimental study, and one was a non-randomized dietary substitution study in older adults.
What it can’t tell you
- The trials were short, lasting only 4 to 8 weeks, so they cannot show what happens over years of habitual eating.
- The studies measured intermediate markers like blood pressure and cholesterol, not hard outcomes like heart attacks or diabetes.
- All trials were done in Spain with specific Iberian dry-cured hams, so the results may not apply to other dry-cured hams or other populations.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
- Authors work at
- Faculty of Pharmacy and Nutrition, Spain
The paper
- Title
- Effects of Dry-Cured Ham Consumption on Cardiometabolic and Vascular Health in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Intervention Studies
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Hernández-Lorca M, Victoria-Montesinos D, García-Muñoz AM, Salazar E, Abellán A (2026). Effects of Dry-Cured Ham Consumption on Cardiometabolic and Vascular Health in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Intervention Studies. Foods (Basel, Switzerland). doi:10.3390/foods15071198Free full textPubMed 41976494DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error