Effects on Blood Pressure of Reduced Dietary Sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet

Hypertension affects almost 50 million people in the United States and places them at higher risk for cardiovascular diseases. 1 , 2 Furthermore, this risk increases with progressive elevations in blood pressure, beginning at even normal levels of blood pressure. 3 The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) trial demonstrated that a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products, that includes whole grains, poultry, fish, and nuts, that contains only small amounts of red meat, sweets, and sugar-containing beverages, and that contains decreased amounts of total and saturated fat and cholesterol lowers blood pressure substantially both in people with hypertension and . . .