What is The DASH diet?
A. One of the major advances in the non-drug treatment of hypertension in the last ten years has been the DASH diet. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension; the basic idea behind the diet was that people who eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables tend to have low blood pressure, and there is also evidence that taking supplements of potassium, calcium, and magnesium may help to lower the blood pressure. A study was designed to test the effects of the diet in two stages: one was the fruits and vegetables part, which restricted the intake of saturated fat, snacks, and sweets, and was also high in fiber. The second component was the addition of low fat dairy products in the form of yoghurt and low fat milk. The original study was conducted in people with mild hypertension, who were randomized to one of three groups: a typical American diet (the control group); the fruits and vegetables diet; and the combination DASH diet.
