The Effect of Nutrition Education Based on DASH Diet on Blood Pressure and Dietary Adherence Among Patients With Hypertension

High blood pressure is a major health threat and self-control has great importance in its management. Hence, a nutrition model is presented based on dietary approach to stop hypertension (DASH) diet. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of training on adherence to DASH diet on blood pressure among hypertensive patients in Rasht, North of Iran.
A total of 150 hypertensive patients visiting health care centers were randomly divided into education intervention and control groups. Food frequency questionnaire were completed before and 2.5 months after the intervention. Patients’ blood pressure was measured at the same time interval. The post-baseline DASH diet components and blood pressure between the two study groups were compared using analysis of covariance.
Participants’ mean age was 56.08 ± 6.1 years and 76% of them were female. At baseline, the daily intake of dairies, fruits, and nuts and beans were significantly lower than the recommended DASH values in both groups. In contrast of fat, tea and salty food, all post-baseline DASH diet components in the intervention group were significantly higher than the control group. The intervention group had a significantly lower systolic blood pressure compared to control group 2.5 months after of the intervention.
Our results indicated that training nutrition based on DASH diet can be considered as a useful strategy to control high blood pressure among hypertensive patients.