DASH (Dietary Approach). Review on Dealing with Hypertension

Hypertension(High Blood Pressure) is called when anybody's B.P.rises above normal reading(say in young adult 110-120;(Systolic-higher reading)and 70 to 88(diastolic(lower reading).As soon as it is detected any doctor will put you on blood-pressure tablet;which is suiting to you and your physiology.If you have Diabetes with it then there are blood pressure tablets which also protect your(diabetic)kidneys.

But this is not solution or no perfect treatment.

DIETARY APPROACHES TO STOP HYPERTENSION(DASH) is more important to the patients rather than increasing dose of tablets;which have very adverse side-effect on high dosage! So it is bad news indeed when doctor, frowning at your latest blood pressure numbers, said he thought you ought to go easy on salt;with the pills.Althoudh it is understood;but he is supposed to tell you repeatedly about'Less Salt in Food'.

It is easy to cut salt in food;in kitchen you can add spice;lime;(herbs;spice)and put negligible salt.Patients do that;but still their BP never comes to normal.Reason unknowingly they eat PRESERVED;CANNED;TINNED food;DAIRY products!They are high in'SODIUM'which is directly responsible for high BP.

Everybody keeps these types of food at home;use them freely. i.g.Pickles;Papad;Salty biscuits(actualy most of BAKERY food);kechup;sauces;any food which is canned;tinned;bottled.These were used sparingly in middle-east only;but now in other countries also they are being used regularly;because nobody has time.

Even dry fruits are also are rich in Sodium.

Most of FAST FOOD are equaly culprit.(Burger;pizza;Potato-wada etc) Hardly anybody realises it. For years, the advice on salt has flip-flopped. Some experts say too much can send blood pressure climbing. Others have said that for most people salt isn't a problem. Now, I learned, a landmark study promises to settle the debate. A DASH of prevention Since 1972, cutting back on salt has been a cornerstone of the National Blood Pressure Education Program. The advice is based on dozens of studies showing that high levels of salt are linked to hypertension.

Most recently, in the February 2000 Journal of Cardiovascular Risk, British hypertension expert Malcolm Law concluded that reducing sodium intake could reduce blood pressure by an average of 10 points(10 mmHg). Not everyone has been convinced that Law's advice was good. In 1984, analyzing nutrition data gathered from around the country, researchers at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland found no evidence that dietary salt was linked to blood pressure. Four years later, results from 7, 300 men enrolled in the Scottish Heart Health Study came to the same conclusion. The amount of salt they consumed had no effect on blood pressure. One thing has long been certain: High blood pressure is dangerous. In findings published this year in The New England Journal of Medicine, for instance, scientists followed the fate of 12, 000 men between the ages of 40 and 59. Those with sustained increases of 10 mmHg in systolic blood pressure and 5 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure were 28% more likely to die of heart disease than those with normal readings. Given that danger, the new findings from the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension(DASH) program are encouraging. Back in 1997, researchers from the DASH study showed that healthy volunteers who ate a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, with low- or nonfat dairy products and only modest amounts of meat, were able to lower their blood pressure by a couple of points. Those with hypertension saw the numbers fall by as much as 11 points. The original DASH study didn't measure sodium intake, however.

So a new one, called DASH-Sodium, was begun.

Four hundred twelve adults were randomly assigned to follow one of two diets - the typical American diet or the lower-fat DASH diet, which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, whole grains, poultry, fish, nuts, and low-fat dairy products. During the first four weeks, the volunteers in both groups consumed 3, 300 milligrams of sodium a day - about the average for most of people. Over the next four weeks, they cut back to 2, 400 milligrams a day. For the last four weeks - no pretzels, no chips, no ifs, ands, or buts - they consumed only 1, 500 milligrams of sodium. The results, reported in May at the American Society of Hypertension Meeting, were a slam-dunk. The less salt the volunteers ate, the further their blood pressures fell.

The biggest benefit showed up in people with hypertension. On the DASH diet with only 1, 500 milligrams of salt, systolic blood pressure fell 11.5 points. Surprisingly, even people with so-called normal blood pressure were able to lower their numbers by more than seven points.

'The study shows how important it is to reduce sodium in the diet, ' says Eva Obarzanek, MD, a nutrition expert at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute(NHLBI), who helped direct the DASH-Sodium trial. Claude Lenfant, MD, the director of the NHLBI, went even further when announcing the results.'These finding show that an intake below that now recommended could help many patients prevent the blood pressure rises that now occur with advancing age.' The DASH-Sodium scientists aren't alone. The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences recently concluded that the ideal sodium level is around 1, 800 milligrams a day - roughly what the DASH study showed, and about half of what most of us now consume. The real problem is prepared foods, (Which I have already mentioned above)which are loaded with salt - and the only way you'd know it is to study the label(About Sodium content) Luckily, there are low-salt soups and nuts out there, along with many other kinds of prepared foods. You just have to look carefully and study the labels. And hitting or exceeding the five-per-day mark for fruits and vegetables, the DASH findings showed, is as important as lowering salt intake, when it comes to keeping blood pressure levels in the healthy range.

Dr.Shafique Pathan .