Guidance for eating a heart healthy diet
October 1, 2026
For heart health, eating a healthy, balanced overall diet that is easy to maintain long-term is key, more so than focusing on specific foods or diet fads, according to a new scientific statement from the American College of Cardiology (ACC).
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Frank Hu, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology and chair of the Department of Nutrition, served as the writing committee chair for the statement, which focused on nutrition’s role in preventing and managing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Published on Sept. 30, the statement offers recommendations for how individuals can eat a heart healthy diet and how clinicians can provide better nutrition counseling to patients, taking into consideration current issues such as rising food costs, a food system saturated with processed foods, and the increasing use of weight management drugs.
“Nutrition science has evolved considerably in the past several decades. We have moved away from focusing primarily on individual nutrients such as dietary fat or carbs to food- and pattern-based approaches,” Hu said in a Sept. 30 Healio article about the statement. “At the same time, new issues have emerged, including GLP-1 therapies. We felt it was timely to update the evidence and provide practical guidance for CVD prevention and care.”
Hu and colleagues wrote that poor nutrition is a major driver of CVD, and made dietary recommendations such as incorporating more vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, and seafood. They also recommended cutting down on ultraprocessed foods and limiting, if not avoiding altogether, red and processed meats, refined grains, excess salt, and alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages.
“Ultimately, heart-healthy eating is not about focusing on a single nutrient or food or following the latest dietary trend,” Hu said in an ACC press release. “What matters most is the overall quality of the diet and a consistent pattern of healthy food choices that supports cardiometabolic health and is sustainable over time.”
The statement notes that poor nutrition, and any resulting CVD, is not just a product of individual choices; it’s also a consequence of the availability and accessibility of food. “Both individual and societal factors are involved,” Hu told Healio. “Our food environment makes highly processed foods of poor nutritional quality widely available and often inexpensive and convenient. At the same time, many people face barriers to healthy eating, including cost, access, time, and food insecurity.”
Hu said that clinicians can have a hand in addressing these social and environmental factors by making nutrition a part of routine clinical care.
“Clinicians can ask patients about their usual eating habits and identify one or two areas for improvement,” Hu said. “It is also important to understand barriers such as food affordability, access, cultural preferences and food insecurity.”
Hu and his colleagues also emphasized the importance of nutrition for individuals taking GLP-1 receptor agonists and other weight-loss management drugs. They recommended that these patients receive ongoing nutrition counseling from not just their physician, but also from clinicians such as a registered dietitian and a behavioral therapist.
“One important point is that nutrition remains essential even as effective treatments such as GLP-1 drugs have become widely available,” Hu told Healio. “However, these medications do not replace the need for a nutrient-rich high-quality diet. Healthy eating and modern medicine should be viewed as complementary, not competing approaches to improve cardiometabolic health.”
Read the statement:Food and Health: Nutrition for Prevention and Management of Cardiovascular Disease: 2026 ACC Scientific Statement: A Report of the American College of Cardiology
Read the ACC press release:ACC Scientific Statement Says Overall Diet Quality Key to Maintaining Heart Health
Read the Healio article:ACC: Discussion of heart-healthy diet should be part of routine clinical care
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Frank B. Hu
Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology
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