You probably know someone who takes a daily pill for blood sugar or blood pressure.
Groceries and prescriptions often feel like two separate parts of the same day. A new line of research is trying to blur that line.
A trial led by Columbia University tested that idea. For eight months, 110 adults with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure received 10 medically tailored meals a week, plus nutrition counseling and cooking lessons.
Their blood sugar and blood pressure both moved.
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HbA1c, the standard long-term blood sugar marker, fell by about 0.5 percentage points.
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure each dropped by roughly 4 mm Hg, according to the American Heart Association.
Those numbers sound small. In long-running diabetes research, they are not.
A classic analysis in the BMJ from the UK Prospective Diabetes Study tied every 1 percentage-point drop in HbA1c to real outcomes.
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Diabetes-related deaths fell by 21 percent, and microvascular complications in the eyes, kidneys and nerves fell by 37 percent.
Both drops are clinically meaningful for cardiovascular risk, lead researcher Nour Makarem told Medical News Today. She is an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
The food
The researchers also asked whether patients needed a full eight months of meal deliveries. One group got 10 meals a week the whole way. The other started at 10 a week, then eased down to 5 meals a week by month 8.
Both arms ended in roughly the same place on blood sugar, blood pressure and Mediterranean-style diet score.
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The nutrition counseling and cooking lessons appear to carry much of the lasting work. Makarem called the two approaches similarly effective when paired with the heart-health curriculum.
Who the trial reached
The study ran in New York City and recruited from groups that often miss out on nutrition programs.
Of the 110 participants, 47 percent were Hispanic and 43 percent were Black. The average age was 63, and 68 percent were women.
The findings are preliminary. The study has not been peer-reviewed and was presented as a conference abstract at the AHA Scientific Sessions in Chicago in November 2026.
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The long-term clinical meaning of a modest blood pressure drop in a single trial is still uncertain, Medical News Today noted in its own coverage.
Participants were more than twice as likely to report higher food security after the program, meaning more reliable access to enough healthy food.
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This article is made and published by Ida-Marie Palm Varbæk, who may have used AI in the preparation.