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Short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, the DASH diet started as a plan for those with high blood pressure (hypertension), but it’s been shown to provide a wider array of health benefits. And with an emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, lean meats, nuts and seeds and healthy fats, it’s tasty, flexible and easy to follow.
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DASH Diet: A Healthy Way To Reduce Your Blood Pressure
The origins of the DASH plan can be traced back to the 1990s when the National Institutes of Health funded research to investigate whether specific dietary plans were effective for treating hypertension. Since then, studies show following the DASH diet reduces both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adults; some studies even find the DASH diet significantly reduces blood pressure in those who don’t have hypertension.
“It’s mainly focused on lowering blood pressure, which improves heart health,” says Catherine Christie, Ph.D., a registered dietitian nutritionist, and associate dean of the Brooks College of Health at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. “These foods are also satiating.”
There isn’t a strict meal protocol and you don’t have to count calories. Rather, the DASH approach allows you to choose what you’ll eat from one meal to the next. The plan emphasizes vegetables, fruits and whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds and vegetable oils, while limiting foods high in saturated fats (fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, palm oils) as well as sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets.
And, of course, it limits salt, as excessive sodium intake can lead to high blood pressure. The standard DASH diet limits your sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams, the equivalent of about 1 teaspoon of table salt a day. There’s also a lower-sodium version that restricts sodium intake to a maximum of 1,500 milligrams a day because this has been shown to decrease blood pressure even more.
In addition, “people can lose weight on this diet because it restricts calories from sweets and fats,” Christie says. “I don’t think you can go wrong with it.”
DASH Diet Food List
You won’t have to go to great lengths or lots of grocery stores to find the foods on the DASH plan; they’re all readily available. “The DASH diet emphasizes foods that contain nutrients that reduce blood pressure—such as potassium-rich foods, magnesium-rich foods, and calcium-rich foods,” says Lisa Young, Ph.D., a registered dietitian nutritionist and an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University and author of Finally Full, Finally Slim: 30 Days to Permanent Weight Loss One Portion at a Time.
While the plan includes recommendations for how many servings of each food group to have a day, the number of servings you consume will depend on your overall calorie needs, based on your age and your activity level. Below is an example of what your servings will look like, based on different calorie intakes:
Here’s a closer look at the types of foods that are encouraged and how they can benefit your health, and the recommended serving size for a 2,000 daily calorie intake.
Vegetables
The DASH plan advises people on a 2,000-calorie diet to consume about four to five servings of vegetables, as veggies are rich in potassium, magnesium and fiber. In particular, the DASH diet recommends green leafy vegetables—such as kale, broccoli and spinach—carrots, squash and sweet potatoes.
Recommended serving size: 4 to 5 servings a day
Fruits
Fruits are a core component of this diet, as they’re also good sources of potassium, magnesium and fiber, which is beneficial for managing blood pressure. In particular, consider adding apples, apricots, bananas, grapes, melons, oranges, peaches, pineapple and strawberries to your plate.
Recommended serving size: 4 to 5 servings a day
Grains
Oats, brown rice, whole-wheat bread and pasta and other whole grains are rich in fiber and contain healthy micronutrients. The DASH plan recommends having between six to eight servings of these foods a day on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Recommended serving size: 6 to 8 servings a day
Fat-Free or Low-Fat Dairy Products
The DASH plan includes two to three servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy products daily, such as fat-free milk or buttermilk, low-fat cheese or yogurt. Besides being rich sources of protein, these foods are rich in calcium, which is beneficial for a healthy blood pressure.
Recommended serving size: 2 to 3 servings a day
Lean Meats, Fish and Poultry
No more than six, 1-ounce daily servings of these foods (for a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet) are on the menu with the DASH diet, as they are chock-full of protein and magnesium.
Recommended serving size: No more than 6, 1-ounce servings a day
Nuts and Seeds
The DASH diet encourages four to five servings of nuts (including almonds, walnuts and nut butter), seeds (like sunflower seeds) and legumes (such as lentils and kidney beans) a week. These are all rich sources of magnesium, fiber and protein. Consider adding 1/4 cup of nuts, 2 tablespoons of nut butter or 1/2 cup of cooked legumes to your plate.
Recommended serving size: 4 to 5 servings a week
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DASH Diet Meal Plan
Here are some sample DASH diet meals:
Benefits of the DASH Diet
Research suggests adhering even modestly to the DASH diet can reduce the risk of prematurely dying from any cause[2]. Additionally, there are specific health perks associated with the DASH diet:
May Lower the Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke
A review of dozens of studies on the effects of the DASH diet on cardiovascular disease risk found the plan is associated not only with a decreased incidence of heart disease and stroke but diabetes, too[3]. Similarly, results of a 24-year follow-up of the Nurses’ Health Study (a continuous study involving thousands of nurses that’s designed to identify risk factors for various chronic illnesses) found that middle-aged women who adhered to the DASH diet had a lower risk of developing heart disease and stroke over time[4].
May Reduce Cholesterol Levels
In a study involving 436 people, researchers examined the effects of the DASH diet on lipid levels. They found those who followed the DASH plan for eight weeks ended up with reductions in their total cholesterol, LDL (the “bad”) cholesterol, and HDL (the “good”) cholesterol levels compared to those who followed a control diet[5]. All of these changes are desirable—except the decline in HDL.
May Decrease the Risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
In recent years, the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD )—a leading cause of cirrhosis of the liver—has been increasing around the world, in tandem with rising levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. A 2020 study from China found that adherence to the DASH diet is associated with a markedly lower prevalence of NAFLD in adults ages 40 to 75, especially women[6].
May Lower the Risk of Kidney Disease
A study from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore found people who followed the DASH diet closely had a lower risk of developing kidney disease over a period of 23 years[7].
May Reduce the Risk of Colorectal Cancer
A 2020 study found close adherence to the DASH diet was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer, probably due to its higher intake of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products and lower intake of salt, sweets and saturated fat[8].
May Improve Sleep Quality
When researchers examined the association between the DASH diet and sleep quality and duration among nearly 4,000 adults, they found people who followed the DASH diet had better overall sleep quality and less daytime sleepiness[9].
Risks of the DASH Diet
There aren’t any known risks associated with the DASH diet, which isn’t surprising since it’s a balanced eating plan featuring wholesome foods. “Unless you cut out whole categories of foods—if you weren’t getting adequate protein or vitamin C, for instance—it’s a very healthy diet the way it’s constructed,” says Christie.
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