DASH-Sodium — Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the DASH diet
In plain English
A tightly controlled feeding trial that gave 412 adults three set levels of sodium on either a typical American diet or the plant-rich DASH diet, with every meal provided. Cutting sodium lowered blood pressure on both diets, and combining low sodium with the DASH diet produced the largest drop of all — up to 11.5 mmHg systolic in people with hypertension. It established that sodium and overall dietary pattern act together, and that today's 'normal' salt intake sits well above the optimum.
Why it matters
Low sodium plus the DASH diet cut systolic blood pressure up to 11.5 mmHg — additively.
Informs: Stroke·Heart Disease
Provenance
- Design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Sample size (n)
- 412
- Follow-up
- 1 years
- Peer-reviewed
- Yes
- Replications
- 3
- Funding
- Public / academic
- Funders
- US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Institutions
- Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
decades.plus score
A transparent 0–100 weighted sum across six components. Higher scores reflect bigger, cleaner, more replicated work.
Caveats
Short 30-day feeding periods with food provided, so long-term adherence and hard outcomes (stroke, heart attack) were not measured directly. The clinical-event benefit of cutting sodium at moderate intakes remains debated.
