A new study from Johns Hopkins Medicine found that a special version of the DASH diet can help lower blood pressure in people with type 2 diabetes.
Most of these people were already taking blood pressure medicine, but the diet provided extra benefits.
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet includes fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. It’s low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
For this study, the DASH diet was modified to fit the needs of people with type 2 diabetes. This new version is called DASH4D. It had fewer carbohydrates and more healthy fats. It also had less potassium to keep it safe for people with kidney issues.
The study included 102 adults with type 2 diabetes, mostly women and mostly Black participants. Participants tried four different diets, each for five weeks. All food was provided to them. The DASH4D diet with less sodium lowered the top number of blood pressure (systolic) by 4.6 points and the bottom number (diastolic) by 2.3 points.
This level of reduction can lower the risk of stroke by 14%, heart problems by 6%, and heart failure by 8%. Most of the blood pressure reduction happened in the first 3 weeks.
Many people with diabetes focus only on blood sugar. But high blood pressure is also common and dangerous. This study shows that a special diet like DASH4D can help manage both blood sugar and blood pressure.
Researchers want to share this information with the public. They hope to make it easier for people to follow this diet with meals that fit different cultures and lifestyles.
The study was mainly funded by the Sheikh Khalifa Stroke Institute and other U.S. health organizations.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that widely used blood pressure drug may increase eye disease risk and common blood pressure drugs linked to cognitive decline.
For more about blood pressure, please read studies about why checking blood pressure while lying down is very important and lowering top blood pressure number to less than 120 mm Hg effectively prevents heart disease.
The study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
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