AHA: Medically Tailored Meals Beneficial for Adults With T2DM, High BP

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 4, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and high blood pressure (BP), an intervention of medically tailored meals (MTM) is effective for improving diet quality, even with gradual down dosing of the intervention, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2026, held from Nov. 6 to 9 in Chicago.Nour Makarem, Ph.D., from the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, and colleagues evaluated adults with coexisting T2D and high BP who do not currently qualify for MTMs due to not having advanced enough disease or complications. Participants were randomly assigned to either a standard MTM intervention arm (10 MTMs/week + nutritional counseling) for eight months or an arm that received 10 MTMs/week for the first three months followed by a gradual dosing down by one MTM/month. Both arms received a curriculum including Life's Essential 8 and healthy eating didactic content, culturally responsive cooking demonstrations, as well as cooking utensils, fresh produce, and healthy ingredients.The researchers found that across both arms, the Mediterranean Eating Pattern for Americans score improved by 3.15 points at the eight-month primary end point, and participants had more than twofold increased odds of having a higher food security status than at baseline. There was a 0.5 percent reduction in hemoglobin A1c and reductions of 3.7 and 4.1 mmHg in systolic and diastolic BP, respectively. The effects did not differ significantly between the two arms."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," Makarem said in a statement.Press ReleaseMore Information.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

AHA: Medically Tailored Meals Beneficial for Adults With T2DM, High BP

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