In a study published in the journal Neurology, Dr. Daniel Wang, an assistant professor of medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and his team report that people who eat more processed red meat had a 14% higher risk of developing dementia over more than four decades that those who consumed minimal amounts.

Experts say there are ways to reduce our risk of dementia, including diet and exercise, protecting against hearing loss, and maintaining social connections.

Researchers at Mass General Brigham found those who ate the most processed red meat, like hot dogs and bacons, had a 13% higher risk of dementia.

A new study found that dementia cases in the United States are projected to double from more than 500,000 in 2020 to about 1 million by 2050.

New research suggests that the risk for developing dementia is significantly higher than previously estimated, and the burden on the United States population will grow substantially over the next few decades.

The researchers suggest that their estimates are higher because they took extra measures to avoid underestimating the number of dementia cases. They closely tracked the health of