If you are concerned about hypertension, perhaps you should try the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. In this article – and a related article Tweaking the DASH Diet -- Johns Hopkins specialists explore the benefits of a DASH-style diet.

The DASH diet is an eating plan that can have a significant and positive effect on your blood pressure. The diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products and low in saturated fat and cholesterol. The diet also includes whole-grain products, fish, poultry, and nuts. Red meat, sweets, and sugar-containing beverages are kept to a minimum.

Two major clinical trials have evaluated the DASH diet, and a third tested a modified version of the diet:

• In the first trial, people who followed the DASH diet for eight weeks reduced their blood pressure by an average of 5.5/3 mm Hg, compared with people who ate a typical American diet (low in fruits and vegetables and high in fat). The benefits of the DASH diet were greatest in people with hypertension. In these people, the DASH diet lowered systolic blood pressure by 11 mm Hg, which is similar to the amount that a single blood pressure drug can lower blood pressure.
• In the second trial, people who combined the DASH diet with a low sodium intake (1,500 mg a day) for four weeks had an average blood pressure reduction of 9/5 mm Hg, compared with people who followed a typical American diet with a high sodium intake (3,300 mg a day). As in the first trial, the benefits were greater in people with hypertension—their systolic blood pressure dropped by an average of 12 mm Hg.
• In the third trial, called OmniHeart, a DASH-style diet that replaced some of the carbohydrates in the DASH diet with protein (mostly from plants) or fat (mostly monounsaturated fat from olive oil) lowered blood pressure even further.

For more information about the DASH diet, visit the website of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.