A
low-salt, low-fat diet may be as effective at reducing blood pressure as blood
pressure-lowering drugs, according to a recent study of 412 people who followed
either a typical American diet or the DASH (“dietary approaches to stop
hypertension”) diet, which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, whole grains,
low-fat dairy products, poultry, fish and nuts. In the study, the DASH diet
alone reduced blood pressure, and combining it with a low-salt diet reduced it
even further. The study's researchers noted that lower salt and the DASH diet
should be recommended to the U.S. population in hopes of preventing hypertension
and high blood pressure.
The New England Journal of
Medicine, January 2001
