DASH Diet

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It is an eating plan developed for research funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the US National Institutes of Health. As described by the NHLBI, the plan is rich in vegetables, fruit and whole grains, includes fat-free or low-fat dairy, fish, poultry, beans and nuts, and limits foods high in saturated fat, sugar-sweetened drinks and sweets. Sodium intake is capped, with a standard version at 2,300 mg per day and a lower-sodium version at 1,500 mg per day.

What published research reports

The original DASH trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997, randomised 459 adults to a control diet, a fruit-and-vegetable diet, or the combination (DASH) diet with all food provided. The combination diet reduced systolic blood pressure by 5.5 mmHg and diastolic by 3.0 mmHg compared with the control diet, with larger reductions among participants with hypertension. A follow-up trial (DASH-Sodium, NEJM 2001) reported that combining the DASH pattern with reduced sodium lowered blood pressure further than either change alone.

References

• Appel LJ, et al. A Clinical Trial of the Effects of Dietary Patterns on Blood Pressure. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:1117–1124. NEJM
• Sacks FM, et al. Effects on Blood Pressure of Reduced Dietary Sodium and the DASH Diet. N Engl J Med. 2001;344:3–10. NEJM
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. DASH Eating Plan. nhlbi.nih.gov