DASH eating plan
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.
Also called Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension · DASH diet · DASH
- Intervention
- In this atlas
Overview
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.
About this intervention
- Type
- Lifestyle
- Mechanism
- A dietary pattern rich in vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products, which in DASH-Sodium was tested at three sodium levels.
Claims and evidence
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).
Eligibility: 2 inclusion criteria; exclusion criteria not stated
- Included
- Adults aged 22 and older (registry minimum age)
- Diastolic blood pressure of 80 to 95 mm Hg and systolic blood pressure below 160 mm Hg (registry)
- Excluded
- None stated
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.
Applies to Adult- 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.
- Multicenter outpatient feeding study in which participants ate the study diets (registry description).
- 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.
- Adults; the registry gives a minimum age of 22 years and a maximum of 100 years
- Certainty method
- Not assessed
- 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
- Next evidence check due
- Not scheduled
Sources and citations (5)
-
- Locator
- Abstract, RESULTS, sentences 1 and 2
- How it applies
- Systolic blood pressure changes by sodium level and diet.
- Retrieved
- Source effective date
- Not reported
- Source state
- Current
- Snapshot hash
6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034- Reuse basis
- PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.
-
- Locator
- Abstract, RESULTS, sentences 3 to 5
- How it applies
- Consistency across groups, DASH difference at each sodium level, and combined effect.
- Retrieved
- Source effective date
- Not reported
- Source state
- Current
- Snapshot hash
6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034- Reuse basis
- PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.
-
- Locator
- Abstract, METHODS, sentences 1 and 2
- How it applies
- Number of participants and feeding design.
- Retrieved
- Source effective date
- Not reported
- Source state
- Current
- Snapshot hash
6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034- Reuse basis
- PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.
-
- Locator
- Abstract, CONCLUSIONS, sentences 1 and 2
- How it applies
- The authors' conclusions and caveat about long-term benefits.
- Retrieved
- Source effective date
- Not reported
- Source state
- Current
- Snapshot hash
6485ec3548bd65069684f505bc55e2de74ffb51e7f63b1327d9a7f1fb218b034- Reuse basis
- PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.
-
Background Dietary Patterns, Sodium Intake and Blood Pressure (DASH - Sodium)
- Locator
- protocolSection.eligibilityModule.eligibilityCriteria
- How it applies
- Registry blood pressure range of enrolled adults.
- Retrieved
- Source effective date
- 2016-07-29
- Source state
- Current
- Snapshot hash
256384c292a00b1fa11ae79a9d758fb7c157dc609b19d98270170b92e3baf9ff- Reuse basis
- Registry record. The raw API JSON is committed. The ClinicalTrials.gov terms page is rendered by JavaScript and its text was not read by a script, so the redistribution basis is unverified; any quotation stays short. The raw file is committed at research/snapshots/cl-ctgov-NCT00000608.json.
Clinical links
Each link reports what one cited claim says about one population. "Evaluated for" means studied, not shown to work. These links do not show that anything is effective or right for you.
-
Claim, not a settled fact 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)
Applies to Adult- 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.
- Multicenter outpatient feeding study in which participants ate the study diets (registry description).
- 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.
- Adults; the registry gives a minimum age of 22 years and a maximum of 100 years
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.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.
Record details
- Record id
cardio:dash-eating-plan- Content hash
a6020052d502508530a4cbd49b827122831eb0593027dd7856d0a7037e5fae87