Nutrition

The DASH diet for blood pressure

Name: The DASH diet for blood pressure
Published: 2026-10-14

DASH is the best-tested eating pattern for lowering blood pressure. It is a way of eating built from ordinary food, not a short-term diet. Combined with low salt in a feeding trial it lowered pressure about as much as one medicine; on its own, in everyday trials, by roughly 3 to 5 mmHg. It does not replace medicine you have been prescribed.

Evidence AStrong Last reviewed 2026-10-14 5 min read

At a glance

What it is: plenty of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts and low-fat dairy, with less salt, red and processed meat, and sugar.
What to expect: blood pressure starts to fall within about 2 weeks and stays lower only while you keep eating this way.¹
Biggest lever: salt. Aim for under 2,300 mg of sodium a day; around 1,500 mg gives the largest effect.²
Check first if you have kidney disease or take potassium-sparing diuretics, ACE inhibitors or ARBs: this pattern is high in potassium.

What the DASH diet is

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It was tested in controlled trials in which participants were handed their meals.¹ The pattern shifts the whole plate rather than removing one nutrient: more potassium, magnesium, calcium and fibre, less sodium and saturated fat.

What the research shows

In the DASH-Sodium trial, combining the DASH pattern with the lowest salt level lowered systolic pressure by about 11.5 mmHg in people with hypertension and about 7 mmHg in people with normal pressure.² That is about the size of one blood-pressure tablet.

Real life is less tidy than a feeding trial. When the results of many trials are pooled, DASH on its own lowers systolic pressure by roughly 3 to 5 mmHg.³⁴ That is still useful, and it is a low-risk change that adds to whatever else you are doing.

The largest effects come from a feeding trial in which meals were provided and salt was cut as well. Pooled results from everyday trials are smaller but consistent. Bars show the fall in systolic pressure compared with a typical diet.

Large observational studies also link closer adherence to fewer cardiovascular events and lower mortality.⁵⁶ Those studies show an association, not proof that the diet caused it.

How to eat it

Daily targets, in servings (a serving is about a fist of vegetables, a piece of fruit, or a slice of bread):

Food group	Servings	What counts
Vegetables	4–5 a day	Fresh, frozen, any colour
Fruit	4–5 a day	Whole fruit more often than juice
Whole grains	6–8 a day	Oats, brown rice, wholemeal bread, whole-wheat pasta
Low-fat dairy	2–3 a day	Milk, yoghurt, kefir, low-salt cottage cheese
Nuts, seeds, legumes	Several times a week	Lentils, beans, chickpeas, almonds, sunflower seeds (skip nuts if you are allergic)
Red and processed meat, sweets, sugary drinks	Keep small	Sausage, bacon, soda, sweets

Salt is the key lever

Aim for under 2,300 mg of sodium a day (about one level teaspoon of salt, counting everything), and move towards 1,500 mg if you can.² Most sodium does not come from the salt shaker. It comes from bread, cheese, sausage, canned and packaged foods, sauces and restaurant meals. Cooking from whole ingredients and tasting before salting does most of the work.

Example day

Breakfast. Porridge made with milk, a sliced banana, a spoonful of walnuts.

Snack. An apple and a small pot of plain yoghurt.

Lunch. Lentil and vegetable soup made without stock cubes, a slice of wholemeal bread, a large salad dressed with olive oil and lemon.

Snack. Carrot sticks and a handful of unsalted almonds.

Dinner. Baked chicken or fish with herbs, brown rice, steamed broccoli and tomato.

Flavour without salt: lemon, garlic, onion, pepper, paprika, dill, parsley, basil, vinegar.

Who should be careful

Check with your doctor first if any of this applies

Kidney disease, or a high potassium level. The standard DASH diet is deliberately rich in potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. People with advanced kidney disease need individual limits.
Potassium-sparing diuretics, ACE inhibitors, ARBs or aldosterone blockers. These raise potassium. Do not add salt substitutes (they are made of potassium chloride) without asking.
You take blood-pressure medicine. Pressure can fall further as the diet works. Check it at home and tell your doctor if it is low or you feel dizzy. Do not stop medicine on your own.
You take insulin or a sulfonylurea. A big change in what you eat can cause low blood sugar; tell your doctor before you start.
You take lithium or warfarin. A sudden cut in salt can raise lithium levels, and a sudden increase in leafy greens changes how warfarin works. Tell your doctor before making a large change.
You are allergic to nuts. Leave them out of the example day.
A sensitive gut. The extra fibre can cause bloating for the first weeks; increase gradually.

How to tell it is working

Measure your blood pressure at home, at the same time of day, a few mornings a week. Expect movement within 2 to 4 weeks. Your doctor may also look at cholesterol, HbA1c and, if you take the medicines above, potassium and kidney function.

Common mistakes

Cutting salt at the table but not noticing it in bread, cheese and sausage.
Treating DASH as a diet to finish. The effect lasts only while the pattern does.
Replacing meat with sweets or refined carbohydrates. The pattern works because of what you add, not only what you remove.

How strong is the evidence

Grade A. The evidence is unusually strong: controlled feeding trials, pooled analyses of many trials, an umbrella review and a place in the US hypertension guideline.⁷ The main caveat is that most trials were short (weeks to a few months), so the long-term benefit for heart attacks and strokes rests on observational data. Real-world effects are smaller than the best trial result, because in everyday life it is harder to follow the pattern exactly.

References

Each reference links to PubMed or the publisher. The tag shows what kind of study it is; the grade above reflects all of them together, not any single one.

Randomised trial Appel LJ, et al. A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure (DASH). N Engl J Med 1997. The original feeding trial (459 adults): the DASH pattern lowered blood pressure within weeks. PubMed 9099655 · DOI
Randomised trial Sacks FM, et al. Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the DASH diet. N Engl J Med 2001. DASH plus the lowest sodium level lowered systolic pressure by up to about 11.5 mmHg in people with hypertension. PubMed 11136953 · DOI
Meta-analysis Filippou CD, et al. DASH diet and blood pressure reduction in adults with and without hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Adv Nutr 2020. 30 trials, 5,545 people: about 3 mmHg lower systolic pressure, with or without hypertension. PubMed 32330233 · DOI
Meta-analysis Siervo M, et al. Effects of the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Nutr 2015. 20 trials: systolic pressure about 5 mmHg lower, with small improvements in cholesterol. PubMed 25430608 · DOI
Umbrella review Chiavaroli L, et al. DASH dietary pattern and cardiometabolic outcomes: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Nutrients 2019. Summary of earlier reviews: lower blood pressure and, in cohorts, about 20% fewer cardiovascular events. PubMed 30764511 · DOI
Meta-analysis Soltani S, et al. Adherence to the DASH diet and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohorts. Nutr J 2020. Observational support: closer adherence goes with lower mortality. This shows association, not proof. PubMed 32321528 · DOI
Guideline Whelton PK, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults. Hypertension 2018. The US hypertension guideline recommends a DASH-type pattern as first-line lifestyle treatment. PubMed 29133356 · DOI

How I grade the evidence

Every guide carries a grade. It describes how well the research supports the advice, not how important the advice is. Grades come from a written rubric and are re-checked as new studies appear.

AStrongConsistent results from high-quality meta-analyses or several trials, a clear size of benefit, well-understood risks.
BModerateAt least one good systematic review or several solid trials. Promising, with real uncertainty about dose, groups or the long term.
CLimited but plausibleSome human evidence, but small, mixed or specific to one condition. Reasonable and low-risk, not proven.

Grade D (animal, mechanistic or influencer-driven claims) and E (disproven or unsafe) are not published here.

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