Lichtenstein is the primary author of the American Heart Association's dietary guidance for cardiovascular disease risk reduction.

[3] Lichtenstein has spent her research career assessing the interplay between diet and heart disease risk factors.

[7] Lichtenstein was chair of the writing group and lead author of the 2021 American Heart Association's statement on Dietary guidance to improve cardiovascular health,[4][8] and served on the task forces on practice guidelines for the 2013 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology's Guideline on the Treatment Of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults and Guideline on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk.

Lichtenstein is a frequent contributor to the media, which can sometimes struggle to report nutrition stories accurately when the science is preliminary.

[9] For example, she provided a cautionary note to The New York Times when a 2014 meta-analysis found that saturated fat was not implicated in heart disease.

[10] NPR said she wrote a letter to the editor[11] at The New York Times correcting Mark Bittman when he announced that "Butter Is Back"[12] and that she cited a 2013 review by the American Heart Association that recommends limiting saturated fat.

[13][14] And she explained for The Washington Post that it would be a shame if people overconsumed grass-fed beef in the false hope that it contains a generous amount of omega-3 fatty acids when in fact it contains very little.

She received an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award in Recognition of Extraordinary Expertise and Contributions to Clinical Lipidology from the National Lipid Association, and has been elected as a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition.