Diet Risk Score Calculator
How often do you eat salty snacks, fried food, fruit, vegetables and meat? These five questions come from a heart-risk score built on one of the largest heart-attack studies ever run, across 52 countries. Answer them to see your diet score and where your points come from.
Your diet score
Answer all five questions
No points — your answers match the heart-healthy pattern on every question.
Diet questions of the INTERHEART Modifiable Risk Score — higher = less heart-healthy
Where your points came from
This is only the diet part of a heart-risk score. Smoking, blood pressure, diabetes, waist size, activity and stress matter too — it is not a heart-risk assessment on its own.
Your results are attached to the form below
These figures are estimates for general awareness only and are not medical advice or a diagnosis. Read our Medical Disclaimer.
Want a Plan Built Around Your Numbers?
A certified dietitian will turn these figures into a diet that fits your routine and your food.
How this is calculated
The questions are the diet section of the INTERHEART Modifiable Risk Score (McGorrian et al., European Heart Journal, 2011), worded as on its official questionnaire. Points, as tabulated in Lee et al. (Nutrients, 2023): salty food or snacks daily, 1; deep-fried food, snacks or fast food three or more times a week, 1; fruit less than once a day, 1; vegetables less than once a day, 1; meat or poultry twice or more a day, 2. The score runs from 0 (heart-healthy on every question) to 6.
Why diet matters for your heart
INTERHEART compared over 5,700 people who had a heart attack with more than 10,000 who hadn't, in 52 countries. In its dietary analysis (Circulation, 2008), an unhealthy diet measured with a simple score accounted for about 30% of the population's risk of heart attack, and the risk rose steadily as diet scores got worse.
What this score is — and isn't
It is only the diet part of the INTERHEART risk score. The full score also counts things such as smoking and second-hand smoke, diabetes, high blood pressure, family history, stress and physical activity. A low diet score doesn't mean your heart risk is low; talk to your doctor about a full assessment.
Small swaps, fewer points
- Fruit and vegetables every day take two points away on their own.
- Replacing one meat meal a day with dal, chana or paneer takes away two more.
- Cutting salty snacks and fried food to occasional treats does the rest.
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