Beating High Blood Pressure with Low-Sodium DASH

The 1997 Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) trial1 marked an important advance in the study of lifestyle factors as they relate to health and disease. Its findings were immediately incorporated into the report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure2 and took center stage in recent dietary guidelines published by the American Heart Association.3 These guidelines stress a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grain products, with the inclusion of low-fat and fat-free dairy products, fish, legumes, poultry, and lean meats for both treatment and prevention of hypertension. Although the 1997 . . .