American Heart Association Updates Dietary Guidance with Nine Key Steps for Lifelong Heart Health

The American Heart Association has released updated dietary guidance outlining nine key features of a heart-healthy eating pattern that can be sustained throughout life to reduce cardiovascular disease risk. This update comes at a critical time as more than half of U.S. adults currently have some type of cardiovascular disease, driven in part by high rates of health factors including high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity that are often linked to poor dietary habits.

The 2026 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association updates the Association’s 2021 guidance with the latest evidence-based science aligned with reducing cardiovascular disease risk, improving quality of life and saving lives. The statement, published in Circulation, the peer-reviewed, flagship journal of the American Heart Association, emphasizes that following a lifelong healthy eating pattern may significantly reduce risk.

The guidance outlines nine key features: adjusting energy intake and expenditure to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight; eating plenty of vegetables and fruits; choosing whole grains over refined grains; selecting healthy protein sources including plant-based options; choosing unsaturated fats over saturated fats; selecting minimally processed foods over ultraprocessed foods; minimizing added sugars; choosing foods low in sodium; and limiting or avoiding alcohol consumption.

‘As a trusted source, the American Heart Association issues evidence-based dietary guidance about every five years, undertaking a complex review that evolves alongside emerging research,’ said Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc., FAHA, volunteer chair of the scientific statement writing committee. ‘We did find that the science supporting this guidance has strengthened. The stronger body of evidence is driving a few nuanced, yet important, updates that ensure the guidance remains aligned with the most current and strongest science on diet and cardiovascular health.’

The 2026 update provides more specific guidance on protein sources, encouraging the exchange of red meat for multiple alternate protein-rich foods, both plant and animal. It also offers broader guidance on choosing food sources of unsaturated fat over food sources of saturated fat and puts more emphasis on choosing foods low in sodium and preparing foods with minimal or no salt. The guidance recognizes that consumption of ultraprocessed foods is linked to poor health outcomes and encourages choosing minimally processed foods instead.

According to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, more than half of all U.S. adults currently have some type of cardiovascular disease. The Association projects that number will climb to 1 in 6 U.S. adults by 2050, driven by increased rates of health factors like high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. More than 40% of adults and more than 1 in 5 children have obesity, and those numbers are projected to increase according to American Heart Association forecasts.

‘These rates are alarming and reinforce that a lifetime of healthy eating is critical because high blood pressure and obesity are leading drivers of chronic disease and death,’ said Amit Khera, M.D., FAHA, volunteer vice-chair of the dietary guidance writing committee. ‘Intentional choices at all stages of life can make a big difference. Parents and other adults can support and model overall healthy behaviors for their children for a healthy start.’

The guidance emphasizes that cardiovascular disease begins early in life and recommends that children can and should begin following a heart-healthy dietary pattern starting at 1 year of age. The Association notes that families play a huge role in establishing healthy eating patterns, and that dietary needs vary throughout the life course and may change. The guidance is designed to provide flexibility in customizing a healthy dietary pattern to accommodate personal preferences, ethnic and religious practices, personal needs and budgets.

Beyond cardiovascular health, the dietary guidance provides additional benefits. A heart-healthy dietary pattern also provides essential nutrients for most people, is rich in healthy fiber, limits foods high in dietary cholesterol, and helps keep saturated fat to 10% or less of total daily calories. While specifically designed to improve cardiovascular health, the guidance is generally consistent with dietary recommendations for other conditions like type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, some cancers and brain health.

The American Heart Association continues to address the root causes of poor diets through evidence-based policy advocacy, community investment and health care innovation. Specific initiatives include informing the definition of ultraprocessed foods as applied in public policy, supporting the development of a front-of-pack nutrition labeling system, and advocating to increase funding for nutrition science research at the National Institutes of Health. Through the Health Care by Food initiative and The Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI)®, the Association is improving the understanding of the critical role healthy food can play in preventing and managing chronic disease.

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