# DASH eating plan Intervention · id `cardio:dash-eating-plan` · Cardiovascular Atlas · release `5dcd9b263fe17744` (public) > General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here. The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations. Also called: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension; DASH diet; DASH Browse, organ or system: Blood vessels Browse, condition area: Risk and prevention; High blood pressure ## In plain language An eating plan designed to lower blood pressure. It stresses vegetables, fruits and whole grains, adds dairy that is low in fat or fat free along with fish, poultry, beans, nuts and plant oils, and cuts back on foods high in saturated fat, sugar-sweetened drinks and sweets. In the DASH-Sodium feeding trial, people on the DASH diet had lower systolic blood pressure than people on a typical American diet at each of three sodium levels, and eating less sodium lowered it further on both diets. A US federal heart institute's page gives a sodium target of 2,300 mg a day for its example plan and says 1,500 mg lowers blood pressure even more. ## Technical summary MeSH Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension (D000073601) is an exact match. MedlinePlus (a public-domain summary credited to a US federal heart institute) says the plan is based on that institute's sponsored research. The evidence recorded here is the DASH-Sodium trial (412 participants, a controlled feeding study with 30-day periods), as one claim. Not recorded: other DASH trials, trials of heart attacks or strokes, and whether people can follow the plan outside a feeding study. The institute's own pages are cite-only, so their content is restated in the atlas's own words. ## Claims, with the population each applies to ## Context: Adults with blood pressure above optimal or stage 1 hypertension, fed controlled diets (DASH-Sodium) Recipient: Adult; Population: 412 participants randomized to a control diet or the DASH diet (abstract). The registry describes adults aged 22 and older with a diastolic blood pressure of 80 to 95 mm Hg and a systolic blood pressure below 160 mm Hg, and the abstract reports effects in people with and without hypertension.; Care setting: Multicenter outpatient feeding study in which participants ate the study diets (registry description).; Geography: Not stated as a list of countries: the registry lists no study locations. Its description refers to four geographic areas and to the United States adult population.; Life stage: Adults; the registry gives a minimum age of 22 years and a maximum of 100 years; Follow-up: Within the assigned diet, three sodium levels were eaten for 30 consecutive days each, in random order (abstract). ### DASH-Sodium randomly assigned 412 participants to eat either a control diet typical of intake in the United States or the DASH diet (rich in vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products). Within the assigned diet, participants ate foods with high, intermediate and low levels of sodium for 30 consecutive days each, in random order. Reducing sodium from the high to the intermediate level reduced systolic blood pressure by 2.1 mm Hg (P<0.001) on the control diet and by 1.3 mm Hg (P=0.03) on the DASH diet. Reducing sodium from the intermediate to the low level caused additional reductions of 4.6 mm Hg on the control diet (P<0.001) and 1.7 mm Hg on the DASH diet (P<0.01). The DASH diet was associated with a significantly lower systolic blood pressure at each sodium level, and the difference was greater with high sodium levels than with low ones. Compared with the control diet at a high sodium level, the DASH diet at a low sodium level led to a mean systolic blood pressure that was 7.1 mm Hg lower in participants without hypertension and 11.5 mm Hg lower in participants with hypertension. The effects of sodium were observed in participants with and without hypertension, in Black participants and those of other races, and in women and men. - Category: Effect - Evidence stage: Interventional - Certainty: Certainty not assessed - Applies to: Recipient: Adult; Population: 412 participants randomized to a control diet or the DASH diet (abstract). The registry describes adults aged 22 and older with a diastolic blood pressure of 80 to 95 mm Hg and a systolic blood pressure below 160 mm Hg, and the abstract reports effects in people with and without hypertension.; Care setting: Multicenter outpatient feeding study in which participants ate the study diets (registry description).; Geography: Not stated as a list of countries: the registry lists no study locations. Its description refers to four geographic areas and to the United States adult population.; Life stage: Adults; the registry gives a minimum age of 22 years and a maximum of 100 years; Follow-up: Within the assigned diet, three sodium levels were eaten for 30 consecutive days each, in random order (abstract). - Limitations: This was a feeding study with 30-day periods, so it shows effects on blood pressure over weeks. It did not measure heart attacks, strokes or effects over years. The authors say long-term health benefits will depend on people making long-lasting dietary changes and on lower-sodium foods being more available. Participants ate study-provided diets (registry description). The registry lists no study locations and holds no results section. Only the PubMed abstract and the registry record were read. - Last checked: 2026-10-15 - Sources: 1. Supports: Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. DASH-Sodium Collaborative Research Group (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) Locator: Abstract, RESULTS, sentences 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:48:14Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034. How it applies: Systolic blood pressure changes by sodium level and diet. 2. Supports: Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. DASH-Sodium Collaborative Research Group (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) Locator: Abstract, RESULTS, sentences 3 to 5. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:48:14Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034. How it applies: Consistency across groups, DASH difference at each sodium level, and combined effect. 3. Background: Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. DASH-Sodium Collaborative Research Group (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) Locator: Abstract, METHODS, sentences 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:48:14Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034. How it applies: Number of participants and feeding design. 4. Background: Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. DASH-Sodium Collaborative Research Group (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) Locator: Abstract, CONCLUSIONS, sentences 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:48:14Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034. How it applies: The authors' conclusions and caveat about long-term benefits. 5. Background: Dietary Patterns, Sodium Intake and Blood Pressure (DASH - Sodium) (Registry, edition ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 record, last update posted 2016-07-29.) Locator: protocolSection.eligibilityModule.eligibilityCriteria. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:48:09Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 256384c292a00b1fa11ae79a9d758fb7c157dc609b19d98270170b92e3baf9ff. How it applies: Registry blood pressure range of enrolled adults. ## Connected pages - DASH-Sodium, adults aged 22 and older with blood pressure above optimal or stage 1 hypertension: lower systolic blood pressure at each sodium level: Hypertension (high blood pressure) (`core:hypertension`) [a claim, not a settled fact; see claim `cardio:claim-dash-sodium-blood-pressure` and its context] - Filed under this front: Prevention and lifestyle (`cardio:front-prevention-and-lifestyle`) - An eating plan studied for lowering blood pressure: Preventing heart attack, stroke and heart failure (`cardio:cardiovascular-prevention`) - Related to: MedlinePlus (`core:medlineplus`) - Investigated in: DASH-Sodium (`cardio:dash-sodium`) ## Provenance Content hash: a6020052d502508530a4cbd49b827122831eb0593027dd7856d0a7037e5fae87 Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15 Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15