An 8-month program providing medically tailored meals improved diet quality and access to healthy food for adults with Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, according to new, independent preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2026. The study also found that gradually reducing the number of meals participants received each month did not decrease the initiative's health benefits when complemented with a heart health curriculum focused on healthy eating at home.
The findings, presented at the meeting in Chicago, suggest that expanding access to medically tailored meal programs for people with chronic health conditions could help prevent the worsening of their health. Usually, food is medicine interventions have focused on people with advanced or terminal conditions. This study suggests earlier introduction of such programs and a focus on preventing the progression of cardiometabolic health diseases could be more impactful.
More than half of adults in the U.S. have poor-quality diets, and poor diet is a leading risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, according to the American Heart Association's 2025 Scientific Statement: A Systematic Review of “Food Is Medicine” Randomized Controlled Trials for Noncommunicable Disease in the United States. Food insecurity affected nearly 14% (18.3 million) of U.S. households in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Together, food insecurity and poor-quality diet can lead to obesity, a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and many cancers.
As part of the American Heart Association’s Health Care by Food initiative, which funded this project, researchers studied the effects of an 8-month medically tailored meal intervention on diet quality and cardiometabolic health in adults with coexisting Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. The study included 110 adults (average age 63, 68% women; 47% self-identified as Hispanic ethnicity, and 43% as Black adults) recruited from New York City neighborhoods with high rates of chronic disease and premature death.
Half of the participants received standard dosing: 10 meals a week for 8 months. The other half received standard dosing for the first 3 months, followed by a gradual dose reduction of one fewer meal per month over the next 5 months, ending with five meals per week during the last month. Both groups received nutrition counseling with a dietitian and an interactive heart health education program that included the American Heart Association's Life’s Essential 8, as well as culturally responsive cooking demonstrations and fresh produce.
After 8 months, overall diet quality improved in both groups, with a 3-point improvement on a scale measuring alignment with the heart-healthy, Mediterranean-style eating pattern. Participants had more than twice the chance of achieving a higher food security status. Blood sugar, measured via HbA1c testing, fell by about 0.5%, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure were both lowered by about 4 mm Hg.
“The improvements in diet quality and clinical cardiometabolic factors occurred in both groups, suggesting that the dosing-down approach, when complemented by the heart-healthy eating and nutrition curriculum, had similar effects to the standard intervention dose,” said lead study author Nour Makarem, Ph.D., FAHA, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center's Mailman School of Public Health.
Kevin Volpp, M.D., Ph.D., scientific lead of the Health Care by Food initiative, noted that the gradual taper approach could be helpful in providing a more sustainable and scalable way to improve cardiometabolic health for more people, since medically tailored meals are expensive. The full findings are detailed in the abstract and the 2026 Online Program Planner.
The research adds to a growing body of evidence, including studies on Traditional Navajo medically tailored meals improved heart failure outcomes and For Black adults in food deserts, food delivery & dietary guidance reduced blood pressure, suggesting food is medicine interventions could be a promising approach to tackle the chronic disease epidemic. More than 51% of U.S. adults have two or more chronic health conditions.
While large, multi-site clinical trials are needed to confirm these results, the findings suggest that expanding eligibility, increasing accessibility and enhancing clinician referral pathways to these programs can improve diet quality and cardiometabolic outcomes, alleviate food insecurity and enhance quality of life in patients with complex and chronic medical conditions. The study is preliminary and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
