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Low-salt diets packed with fruit and vegetables lower blood pressure more than medication after just four weeks, Cutting out salt and eating lots of fruit, vegetables and low-fat dairy, reduces people with high blood pressure’s results by an average of 21 mm Hg. The researchers analyzed 412 people with early-stage hypertension who were not taking high blood pressure medication.
Some of the study’s participants were fed a ‘DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet’, which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, with minimal saturated fat.
The remaining participants ate a typical American diet. All of the participants were fed different sodium levels equaling around 0.5, one or two teaspoons of salt a day over four weeks with five-day breaks in between.
Approximately one teaspoon is the maximum recommended salt intake in the US to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Results reveal that, among the participants with the highest blood pressure levels, following a low-salt, DASH diet for just four weeks reduced their hypertension readings by an average of 21 mm Hg.
Drugs such as ACE inhibitors, calcium blockers and beta blockers typically reduce blood pressure by between 10 and 15 mm Hg. Participants with lower blood pressure results at the start of the study also saw their readings reduce by between five and 10 mm Hg.
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