Little-known Dash diet ranked highest among healthy eating plans
The little-known Dash diet is consistently ranked highest among healthy eating plans, but what makes it different from all of the others? Jeanette Wang investigates
The list of 32 diets, released this month, was developed by a panel of experts in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes and heart disease.
[Those in Asia] have lower rates of cancer, heart diseases than Americans
Few people have heard of the Dash diet, which was developed by the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. That's probably down to its unsexy name, and the less-than-unique theory behind it. But the diet deserves more attention, especially as the incidence of hypertension increases with a modern lifestyle.
The Dash diet requires no special foods or starvation. It's based on age-old common sense about balanced nutrition and calorie intake in relation to age and activity levels.
Followers of the plan load up on foods, such as fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy, and stay away from red meat, sweets and salt. The diet is high in potassium, magnesium, calcium and antioxidants, which are crucial to fending off hypertension.
Rigorous studies set the Dash diet apart from other nutritional regimens that don't deliver, and may even threaten your health.
In research released last September by the University of Michigan's Frankel Cardiovascular Centre, elderly heart failure patients who followed the Dash diet for 21 days saw a drop in blood pressure similar to taking anti-hypertension medicine.