In a new study from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, researchers found that dietary interventions, like the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and low sodium consumption, can reduce heart risk in a short time period.
In the study, the team examined the effects of sodium reduction on heart risks, alone or in combination with the DASH diet.
They tested 212 adults with systolic blood pressure (BP) 120 to 159 mm Hg and diastolic BP 80 to 95 mm Hg. These people were assigned to either the DASH diet or a control diet.
The researchers found that the DASH diet reduced a novel biomarker of heart injury by 18% and a biomarker for body inflammation by 13%.
Independent of diet, lowering sodium from high to low levels reduced a biomarker for heart failure by 19%.
Compared with the high sodium-control diet, combining DASH with sodium reduction lowered a biomarker for heart attacks by 20% and heart failure by 23%.
The team says the two dietary strategies can improve heart injury in a relatively short time period.
This suggests that the improvements in heart disease risk factors from a reduced-sodium, DASH diet.
The study has important clinical implications, and these findings should strengthen public resolve for public policies that promote the DASH dietary pattern and lower sodium intake in the United States and globally.
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The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. One author of the study is Stephen P. Juraschek, M.D., Ph.D.
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