Drastic Food Restriction

Since the first description of essential hypertension by von Basch 1 in 1874 there has been a constant stream of regimens for the cure or amelioration of the disease. None has proved specific, but one of the most frequently recurrent has been dietary limitation in one form or another. The most recent upsurge of interest in the dietary treatment of hypertension appears to have been stimulated by Kempner's reports 2 indicating that beneficial results may be obtained with a diet containing about 2,000 calories, 15 to 20 Gm. of protein and 0.25 to 0.4 Gm. of sodium. The precise effective feature of the diet remains in some doubt, but Grollman and his co-workers 3 and Bryant and Blecha 4 expressed the belief that it is sodium chloride restriction, first suggested for the treatment of hypertension by Ambard and Beaujard 5 in 1905 and vigorously supported in this country by Allen