DASH diet for treatment of hypertension: How to lower your pressure and protect your heart with food?

Therapeutic nutrition science has recently been moving toward using food as medicine for chronic diseases. DASH diet for treatment of hypertension is one of the most prominent applications of it, which has proven highly effective as a standalone treatment or alongside certain specialized medications.

So, would you like to know what the DASH diet is? How to follow it? And how does it help treat high blood pressure? You’ll find everything you want to know in this article.

What is the DASH diet?

The word DASH stands for “Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension,” which refers to a dietary approach to prevent high blood pressure.

This approach emerged as a treatment within therapeutic nutrition methods for patients with high blood pressure, one of the most widespread chronic diseases. The DASH diet has been used to treat high blood pressure for decades and has shown great effectiveness.

Rules of applying the DASH diet for treatment of hypertension

This system is based on several rules, including:

• Reducing sources of sodium in food

Given sodium’s role in raising blood pressure, reducing the consumption of foods high in sodium leads to lowering high blood pressure.

The most common sources of sodium in food are table salt, soft drinks, processed meats such as salami and sausages, soy sauce, and fast food.

• Increasing intake of fresh vegetables and fruits

One of the most important rules of using the DASH diet for treatment of hypertension is increasing the consumption of fresh foods rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Increasing their intake improves the body’s overall condition, circulation, artery and heart health, disease resistance, and consequently blood pressure.

• Reducing consumption of saturated fats and cholesterol

Saturated fats cause several problems in blood vessels, such as atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart issues and high blood pressure. Therefore, one of the key dietary rules for controlling blood pressure through food is to reduce saturated fat and cholesterol intake as much as possible.

• Moderate amounts of protein

Applying the DASH diet for treatment of hypertension relies on consuming moderate amounts of protein, mainly depending on fish and legumes as preferred sources of protein.

Medical research has proven the effectiveness of the DASH diet as a dietary plan for patients with high blood pressure to control blood pressure, prevent complications, and improve heart, vascular, and overall health. The diet can also be adapted to aid weight loss by reducing caloric intake while following its guidelines, and blood pressure improves as excess weight is lost this way.