A blood pressure diet: This article talks about the DASH diet and choosing foods to lower high blood pressure:
- Getting the low down on the DASH diet and salt reduction
- Using weight loss to get the blood pressure down
- Checking out the other diets and seeking assistance
- Nuts are part of the DASH diet
You are what you eat, the old saying goes. But it’s truer than ever with high blood pressure. Weight loss, a well-balanced diet, and salt intake reduction can lower blood pressure. These approaches, however, haven’t successfully kept blood pressure down in most patients. A new approach is needed: a blood pressure diet. The DASH diet is exactly this – an eating plan to treat hypertension.
In this article, you will discover an effective approach to healthy eating. We explain how it developed and proved effective, and we show you how to use it to reduce your blood pressure, no matter what your level is now. For people who want to reduce weight for whatever reason, we also provide a sensible, balanced program to help you get there.
The now famous DASH diet recommends eating nuts, seeds, and legumes: Almonds, mixed nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, and walnuts; sesame or sunflower seeds; garbanzo beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, lentils, split peas, and tofu. – see below.
Following the DASH diet to lower your blood pressure
Based on study results at four major medical centers in the United States, the “Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension” (DASH) diet was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (April 1997). All patients on the DASH diet successfully reduced their systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Those patients with established high blood pressure lowered their systolic pressure by an average of 11 mmHg and their diastolic BP by 5.3 mmHg.
The research: DASH diet evidence reviewed after 20 yrs.
They achieved this reduction without special foods, food supplements, drugs, or weekly meetings. Furthermore, they achieved it without emphasizing weight loss by reducing kilocalories, without insisting on salt reduction, and without demanding exercise.
Are you intrigued? In the following sections, we describe the creation of the DASH diet and show you how to get started.
Leading up to DASH
DASH was created when doctors noted that vegetarians generally have lower blood pressure and a lower incidence of coronary heart disease and strokes than nonvegetarians. The reason isn’t exactly clear. However, the big difference between vegetarians and non-vegetarians is that the former eat more fruits and vegetables than the latter. They also, of course, eat no meat and generally have less cholesterol and saturated fat in their pattern of eating.
Because a vegetarian program isn’t a practical recommendation for the American public, scientists attempted to replicate the vegetarian program while permitting some meat. They looked for the substances in the food that could explain the fall in blood pressure.
The scientists recognized that a nutritional program with more fruits and vegetables has more potassium, which definitely affects blood pressure. The higher the potassium, the lower the blood pressure. So the increased potassium may be a partial explanation for the lower blood pressure, but it’s not the entire story because similar amounts of potassium don’t lower the blood pressure to the same extent unless salt is also reduced.
Note: The other important nutrients in vegetables and fruits are calcium and magnesium. However, studies haven’t shown that these minerals lower blood pressure. And although fat intake reduction and the increase in fiber may lower blood pressure, researchers haven’t determined their role in blood pressure control either.
The people who designed DASH decided that the mix of different nutrients may be responsible for the blood-pressure-lowering effect. To test their theory, they tried the combination on a large group of people, with an emphasis on African Americans, who have the highest rate of high blood pressure in the United States.
Proving the value of DASH
The study involved 459 people with a systolic blood pressure under 160 mm Hg and a diastolic blood pressure of 80 to 95 mm Hg. In addition, the participants:
- Were all older than 22
- Took no medications for high blood pressure
- Had to stop taking all vitamins and food supplements
- Couldn’t drink more than 14 drinks of wine or other spirits per week
- Couldn’t have poorly controlled diabetes, high blood fats, or a body mass index greater than 35
At the beginning of the study,
- Two out of three participants were African Americans.
- The mean age was 44 years.
- The average blood pressure of the group was 132/85 mm Hg with 29 per- cent having mild high blood pressure.
- Participants were mildly overweight with an average body mass index of 27.
- Twenty-seven percent were smokers.
For three weeks, the participants closely followed a common American diet (high in fats and total calories); then they were randomly broken into three groups:
- One group continued the usual American diet.
- The second group received a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
- The third group was given DASH.
In addition, participants were given sufficient food so that they didn’t lose weight, and they didn’t have a decrease in salt intake. The diets continued for eight weeks.
After only two weeks, the usual diet group showed no change in blood pressure while the fruits-and-vegetables group reduced their blood pressures. But the DASH group had the greatest reduction in blood pressure, and they sustained this reduction for the entire study.
The average reduction in the DASH group’s blood pressure was 6/3 mm Hg, but the best results were among the people with the highest blood pressures — 11/6 mm Hg.
Since the DASH study, other studies have accomplished the same excellent results using DASH, whether in an academic setting or in a primary-care out-patient practice. Some of these studies have shown other beneficial effects of DASH. For example:
- DASH lowered total blood cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL or bad) cholesterol.
- Blood levels of homocysteine, a substance associated with higher levels of coronary heart disease, were lowered.
Because most high blood pressure patients have mild stage 1 high blood pressure (140 to 159 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure or 90 to 99 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure, whichever is higher) and most illnesses and deaths occur in that group, the extent of DASH’s effects can have a significant impact on the health of Americans, especially those most at risk from high blood pressure.
DASH-Sodium, a second study that used various levels of sodium with the DASH program, showed that the lowest sodium level (1,500 mg daily) lowered blood pressure even more.
Getting with the program
The DASH program is usually based on a 2,000-kilocalorie-a-day diet. In the following sections, I provide you with the foods and servings in the program, sample menus, and tips for getting started and sticking with it.
If you find that following DASH is too difficult, don’t hesitate to ask your doctor for a referral to a dietitian. The DASH diet is a blood pressure diet.
Specific foods and servings
The 2,000-kilocalorie DASH eating plan has the following foods and servings. If you need fewer kilocalories to maintain your weight, take the lower number of servings; if you need more kilocalories, take the higher number of servings.
- 7 to 8 servings of grains and grain products daily
A serving is 1 slice of bread, 1⁄2 bagel, 1⁄2 cup dry cereal, 1⁄2 cup cooked rice, pasta, or other cereal.
- 4 to 5 servings of vegetables daily
A serving is 1 cup of raw, leafy vegetables, 1⁄2 cup cooked vegetables, 6 ounces vegetable juice.
- 4 to 5 servings of fruit daily
A serving is 6 ounces of fruit juice, 1 medium fruit, 1⁄2 cup dried fruit, 1 ⁄2 cup of fresh, frozen, or canned fruit.
- 2 to 3 servings of low-fat or nonfat dairy products daily
A serving is 1 cup 1-percent milk, 1 cup low-fat yogurt, and 11⁄2 ounces nonfat cheese.
- 2 or fewer servings of meats, poultry, or fish daily
A serving is 3 ounces of cooked lean meat, fish, or poultry.
- 2 + 1⁄2 servings of fats daily
A serving is 1 teaspoon oil, butter, margarine, mayonnaise, or 1 tablespoon regular or 2 tablespoons light salad dressing.
- 4 to 5 servings of nuts, seeds, or legumes per week
A serving is 1⁄3 cup nuts, 2 tablespoons seeds, 1⁄2 cup cooked legumes, or 3 ounces tofu.
- 5 servings of sweets per week including 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon jelly or jam, 1⁄2 ounce jelly beans, or 8 ounces of lemonade.
Examples of good food choices in each group include:
- Grains and grain products: English muffins, high-fiber cereals, oatmeal, pita bread, and whole wheat breads
- Vegetables: Artichokes, broccoli, carrots, collards, green beans, kale, peas, potatoes, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and turnip greens
- Fruits: Apples, apricots, bananas, dates, grapes, oranges, orange juice, grapefruit, grapefruit juice, mangos, melons, peaches, pineapples, prunes, raisins, strawberries, and tangerines
- Dairy products: Buttermilk — skim or low-fat; cheese — nonfat and part- skim mozzarella; milk — skim or 1-percent; yogurt — nonfat or low-fat
- Fish, meats, and poultry: Lean meats, poultry without skin, and no frying or sautéing
- Nuts, seeds, and legumes: Almonds, mixed nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, and walnuts; sesame or sunflower seeds; garbanzo beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, lentils, split peas, and tofu
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