Consuming only a plant-rich diet has benefits to lower high blood pressure and also reduce people getting prone to heart failure in individuals under 75
This was the end results of a research that a team at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC, conducted to observe the effect of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on heart failure. The results are featured in the American Journal od Preventative Medicine.
From the figures collected from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CD), it is to be seen about 5.7 million adults suffered from heart failure in USA. This disease occurs when the heart carry’s on beating but is unable to pump blood as it really should.
The conclusion is made that organs and tissues do not receive the oxygen and nutrients needed to function properly and remain healthy.
“Heart failure is a frequent cause of hospitalization in older adults and is associated with substantial healthcare costs, so identifying modifiable risk factors [for] heart failure is an important public health goal,” says lead study author Dr. Claudia L. Campos, at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
DASH diet can reduce blood pressure
This diet is rich in fruits, vegetables whole grains, beans, nuts, low fat or fat-free dairy, poultry, fish and vegetable oils. It is less in saturated fats, full-fat fairy, fatty and red meats, sugary drinks, salt, tropical oils such a coconut and palm and sweets. It is also to be seen that the DASH diet can reduce blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) encourages DASH as a “heart-healthy lifestyle” which includes exercising, being fit with a healthy weight, consuming less alcohol, controlling stress, quit smoking and good sleeping patters.
This diet is somewhat like the Mediterranean diet, the difference in DASH is that it provides importance on low-fat dairy and eliminates alcohol completely.
The new discovery is continued with another study that a plant-based diet could completely remove the risk of heart failure. Nevertheless, this study was observed on adults who were 45, mostly, while the new research was conducted on older individuals. The researchers examined the records from The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), that registered men and women at sick clinics in various universities all over USA.
DASH; beneficial for individuals under 75
The individuals selected were of 45-84 when they took part in 2000-2002. They were not suffering from cardiovascular diseases and MESA kept a check on them from that time, to note any occurrences of cardiovascular medical symptoms as well as heart failure. The report consisted of data from 13 years on 4478 participants. Dietary information was received by the participants to 120 item poll on consumption frequency and quantity of various foods and drinks.
The researchers made the participants into 5 groups, each including 20% of the cohort and positioned them based on how near they were with their diet when compared with DASH. They further went and inspected the occurrence of heart failure among the groups made.
The results were made visible and it was to be seen that those who followed the DASH diet plan had very less effect of heart failure risk. Then, they took out those people who were 75 and over and the researches noticed a pattern.
The percentage of heart failure was 40% less in those under 75 and stuck to the DASH diet contrasting to those who didn’t follow it consistently.
Dr. Campos mentioned that these results make discoveries for future research to know if following the DASH diet plan can really help to stop heart failure from affecting us.