Diet Can Positively Affect Blood Pressure

It's widely accepted that diets help to control high blood pressure. But what diet is best? That question was addressed in a study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study included 459 adults with mild hypertension. During a control period, all groups were served what was considered a typical American diet including four servings of fruit and vegetables and a half serving of dairy products a day. After a three-week control period, participants were split into three groups for another eight weeks:• One group continued the control diet. • A second group increased their fruit and vegetable intake to 8.5 servings a day. • The final group was fed the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) which combined a lower fat diet (26% versus 36% for the average American diet) with modest amounts of meat, fish and poultry. The diet included two servings of low-fat dairy products a day as well as ten servings of fruits and vegetables.

A vegetarian diet was not included since it is not considered palatable to most Americans.

Systolic pressures in the second group (which just increased their fruit and vegetable intake) fell 2.8 mmHg, and diastolic pressures fell 1.1 mmHg. The combined diet more than doubled the reduction to 5.5 and 3.0 mmHg, respectively.

According to the study's lead author, the combined diet produced reductions similar to that seen with single drug therapy in people with mild hypertension. However, the researchers also cautioned that care must be exercised in drawing conclusions since the study did not include other variables such as salt intake or other nutrients.

Source: Daily inScight; Academic Press, 17 April 1997.