Almost one quarter of adults in the United States have hypertension.
Many factors influence blood pressure, including obesity, sodium intake, and alcohol use.
In 1997, we reported that a dietary approach using generous amounts of fruits, vegetables, and lowfat dairy products with reduced saturated and total fat was effective in reducing blood pressure. This diet was called the DASH diet. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. A follow-up to this study found that reducing sodium intake from the high level typical of American diets to a low level of sodium in conjunction with the DASH diet had a significant effect on blood pressure. This effect, in those study participants with hypertension, was the same as or greater than the reduction that would be seen with blood pressure medication.