The plant-based portfolio diet focuses on heart health

The portfolio diet has been around for more than 20 years, but only recently have more people invested in this heart-focused regimen. The little-known diet has been found to reduce cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in the U.S. The key is to put your stock in plant fiber and protein while reducing animal-based foods.

What is the portfolio diet?

The diet was developed in 2003 by Dr. David Jenkins, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto. It was named as such because it’s all about “spreading out your risks and benefits and trying to maximize” nutritional returns, said Jenkins to The New York Times. It “discourages foods from animal sources, particularly red and processed meat, high-fat dairy, and eggs,” said Harvard Medical School. Instead, it prioritizes “viscous fiber, plant-based proteins, nuts, seeds, monounsaturated fats, and phytosterols, also known as plant sterols.”

The crux of the portfolio diet is nonmeat protein, including “nuts of all kinds, as well as chickpeas, lentils, tofu and other kinds of plant protein,” said The Independent. The diet recommends getting 50 grams of plant protein and 45 grams of nuts and seeds.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Viscous fiber also makes up a significant portion of the recommended diet. It is “found in certain plant foods like oats, barley, okra, eggplant and chia seeds, and fiber supplements like psyllium,” said the Times. During digestion, the viscous fiber “turns into a gel-like substance in your intestines, where it binds to cholesterol to reduce its absorption.”

The third major component is phytosterols, which “exist naturally in nuts, soybeans, peas and canola oil” and have a “structure similar to cholesterol.” Those components limit the amount of cholesterol the body can absorb.

A diet rich in plant sterols, soy protein and viscous fibers could reduce levels of LDL cholesterol by approximately 30%, according to Jenkins’ original study from 2003. Since then, other research has corroborated the benefits. The portfolio diet is “associated with a lower risk of CVD, including CHD [coronary heart disease] and stroke, and a more favorable blood lipid and inflammatory profile,” said a 2023 study published in the journal Circulation. These results also held when analyzing a “national cohort of racially diverse adults in the U.S.,” said a 2025 study. “It’s the same effect as a first-generation statin,” said Meaghan E. Kavanagh, the lead author of the 2025 study, to Medscape.

How does it compare to other diets?

The portfolio diet is not the only option that may improve heart health. The Mediterranean diet, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and the pescatarian diet have also been found to have extensive health benefits. While the portfolio diet is not as well known as these other diets, there are “significant overlaps,” said the American Heart Association. All three “emphasize eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables, plant protein, nuts and plant oils.” Where they differ is that the portfolio diet specifically focuses on plant-based food, making it vegetarian and vegan-friendly. Other diets also tend to include meat and/or fish in their recommendations.

Heart disease is still the number-one cause of death in the U.S., and poor nutrition plays a key role. What makes the portfolio diet favorable and sustainable is its “relative flexibility,” said the Times. “Contrast that with other diets that may be more restrictive, such as the keto and paleo diets.” Luckily, it is “not an all-or-nothing approach,” said Andrea Glenn, a registered dietitian and postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to the American Heart Association. “You can take your own diet and make a few small changes and see cardiovascular benefits.”