Widely promoted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the American Heart Association; and other organizations, a set of recommendations known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) is directed at lowering blood pressure. One study found that adding weight loss and exercise to the DASH diet led to better blood pressure–lowering results.
Take the three-pronged approach to control blood pressure
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, included 144 overweight or obese men and women. To qualify for the study, they had to have stage 1 hypertension, or prehypertension, defined as a systolic blood pressure of 130 to 159 mm Hg or a diastolic blood pressure of 85 to 99 mm Hg. They were randomly assigned to:
The people in the DASH diet groups received instruction and support for eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low- or non-fat dairy foods, while limited in fats and sodium. Those in the weight loss group were also instructed in behavioral strategies and ways to think about food to modify eating habits, and participated in supervised 45-minute exercise sessions three times per week.
The results:
“The DASH diet with or without a behavioral weight loss program results in clinically significant reductions in blood pressure. Adding exercise and weight management to the DASH diet also appears to confer even greater reductions in blood pressure as well as additional improvement in… other markers of cardiovascular risk,” lead study author James Blumenthal, PhD, professor of medical psychology at Duke University, said in a press release.
So, if you are managing high blood pressure, work with your doctor to create a program that includes these important basic steps:
(Arch Intern Med 2010;170:126–35)