Heart Association’s New Guidance Recommends Olive Oil and Other Unsaturated Fats

Summary

The American Heart Association’s 2026 dietary guid­ance rec­om­mends unsat­u­rated fats like olive oil and empha­sizes the impor­tance of over­all dietary pat­terns for car­dio­vas­cu­lar health, rather than indi­vid­ual nutri­ents. The guid­ance also advises con­sumers to limit foods high in sat­u­rated fats, added sug­ars, and sodium, while min­i­miz­ing ultra-processed foods and empha­siz­ing sus­tain­abil­ity in heart-healthy eat­ing pat­terns.

Olive oil, along with other mostly unsat­u­rated cook­ing fats, is included among the rec­om­mended fat sources in the new 2026 dietary guid­ancefrom the American Heart Association, which updates its pre­vi­ous 2021 state­ment.

In the doc­u­ment, the AHA shifts the focus from indi­vid­ual nutri­ents to over­all dietary pat­terns, empha­siz­ing that long-term eat­ing habits, rather than sin­gle com­po­nents, are the pri­mary dri­vers of car­dio­vas­cu­lar health. Whole, min­i­mally processed foods are described as the foun­da­tion of heart-healthy diets.

According to the AHA, clin­i­cal trial evi­dence shows that replac­ing sat­u­rated fats with polyun­sat­u­rated and monoun­sat­u­rated fats reduces the risk of car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease.

More specif­i­cally, the asso­ci­a­tion lists ani­mal fats such as beef tal­low and but­ter, along with trop­i­cal oils such as coconut oil, cocoa but­ter and palm oil, among fats with rel­a­tively high sat­u­rated fat con­tent. Olive oil, soy­bean oil and canola oil are listed as high in unsat­u­rated or polyun­sat­u­rated fats.

That pro­file is con­sis­tent with exist­ing stan­dards. The International Olive Council states that olive oil can con­tain up to 85 per­cent monoun­sat­u­rated fats. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization lists canola oil as con­tain­ing up to 63 per­cent monoun­sat­u­rated fats, while soy­bean oil con­tains about 23 per­cent monoun­sat­u­rated fats and is a sig­nif­i­cant source of polyun­sat­u­rated fats.

“Strong evi­dence shows that replac­ing but­ter with plant oils and spreads con­tain­ing pre­dom­i­nantly unsat­u­rated fat decreases low-den­sity lipopro­tein cho­les­terol con­cen­tra­tions,” the AHA wrote. ​“As part of heart-healthy dietary pat­terns, non­trop­i­cal plant sources of fat should be used as part of food prepa­ra­tion in place of ani­mal fats and trop­i­cal oils.”

Heart dis­ease, heart attacks and strokes remain the lead­ing causes of death in the United States. Globally, the World Health Organization esti­mates that one in three deaths is linked to car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease. While diet and seden­tary lifestyles con­tribute heav­ily in the United States, other regions face ris­ing risk from tobacco use, hyper­ten­sion, urban­iza­tion and greater access to cheap, high-calo­rie ultra-processed foods.

According to the AHA, sus­tained adher­ence to a healthy dietary pat­tern that includes unsat­u­rated fats such as olive oil, along with whole grains, veg­eta­bles, fruits and healthy pro­teins, is asso­ci­ated with bet­ter qual­ity of life and lower car­dio­vas­cu­lar risk.

At the same time, the asso­ci­a­tion warned that many foods on the mar­ket may under­mine the ben­e­fits of healthy eat­ing pat­terns. Consumers are advised to min­i­mize foods high in sat­u­rated fats, added sug­ars and sodium.

The AHA also said alco­hol intake should be lim­ited, not­ing that even low lev­els may increase health risks when assessed across the broader pop­u­la­tion.

It fur­ther advised con­sumers to eat as lit­tle ultra-processed food as pos­si­ble, reflect­ing a grow­ing body of research show­ing the broad health harms asso­ci­ated with such prod­ucts in recent years. One exam­ple is pre­vi­ous report­ing on stud­ies show­ing how ultra-processed food con­sump­tion is dri­ving a pub­lic health cri­sis.

While the AHA does not adopt a sin­gle for­mal def­i­n­i­tion of ultra-processed foods, the guid­ance describes them as indus­tri­ally for­mu­lated prod­ucts rather than sim­ply processed foods. They typ­i­cally con­tain ingre­di­ents not used in home cook­ing, such as addi­tives, emul­si­fiers and fla­vor­ings, and are designed to be hyper-palat­able and ready to con­sume.

According to the asso­ci­a­tion, con­sumers should also be cau­tious when seek­ing health­ier foods in the mar­ket­place, includ­ing when shift­ing from meat to plant-based alter­na­tives. Nuts and legumes, such as lentils, peas and beans, are con­sid­ered good sources of pro­tein, fiber and unsat­u­rated fats. However, some plant-based meat alter­na­tives are ultra-processed and con­tain added sug­ars, sodium, sta­bi­liz­ers and preser­v­a­tives.

The new dietary guid­ance also high­lights the impor­tance of sus­tain­abil­ity, stress­ing that heart-healthy eat­ing pat­terns must be prac­ti­cal, cul­tur­ally adapt­able and sus­tain­able over time.

The AHA said long-term adher­ence, rather than short-term dietary change, is essen­tial to achiev­ing mean­ing­ful and last­ing reduc­tions in car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease risk.