DASH Diet to Control Blood Pressure May Also Lower
Risk of Heart Disease for Women
April 14, 2008 - Women who eat diets similar to the
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietwhich is low in
animal protein, moderate in low-fat dairy products and high in plant
proteins, fruits and vegetablesappear to have a lower risk of coronary
heart disease and stroke, according to a report in the April 14 issue of
Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The DASH diet has been shown to reduce both
systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure in
individuals with high or normal blood pressure, according to background
information in the article. The diet has also been shown to reduce
low-density lipoprotein (bad) cholesterol and is recommended in
national dietary guidelines as an example of a healthy eating pattern.
Failure of men and women with high blood pressure
to follow diet guidelines highlighted by Archives of Internal Medicine
Feb. 11, 2008 - Women face unique risks for
developing hypertension and special challenges in keeping it under control, which is the feature of a special themed
edition of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. It
features more than 45 studies and editorials related to women and
hypertension as part of the recognition of the fifth anniversary of the
American Heart Associations Go Red For Women movement,
which raises awareness of heart disease risks for women. But, also
today, the Archives of Internal Medicine is reporting that few men or
women with hypertension eat diets that align with government guidelines
for controlling the disease.
Read more...
Teresa T. Fung, Sc.D., of Simmons College, Boston,
and colleagues studied 88,517 female nurses age 34 to 59 in the Nurses
Health Study who did not have cardiovascular disease or diabetes in
1980.
Seven times from 1980 through 2004, the women
reported the types of foods they ate regularly over the previous year.
Researchers then calculated a DASH score for each woman based on eight
food and nutrient components.
Their scores increased when they ate more fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes and stayed close to the
recommended amounts of low-fat dairy.
Scores decreased with increased consumption of red
and processed meats, sweetened beverages and sodium.
Through 24 years of follow up, 2,129 women had a
non-fatal heart attack, 976 died of coronary heart disease and 2,317 had
strokes.
Higher DASH scores were associated with a lower
risk for heart disease and stroke. When separated into groups based on
their DASH scores, the one-fifth of women who had diets that were most
similar to the DASH diet were 24 percent less likely to develop fatal or
non-fatal coronary heart disease and 18 percent less likely to have a
stroke than the one-fifth of women with the lowest DASH scores.
In a subgroup of women who provided blood samples,
higher DASH scores were also associated with lower levels of C-reactive
protein and interleukin 6. These compounds are markers of inflammation,
which has been associated with heart disease risk.
Similar studies should be conducted to determine if
associations between the DASH-style diet and risk for heart disease and
stroke remain similar in other populations, the authors note. In
addition, the diet should be compared to others shown to predict the
risk of heart disease, including the Mediterranean diet.
Editor's Note: This study was funded by grants from
the National Institutes of Health.
