A new study published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found the DASH diet was linked to a reduction in heart damage.
An acronym for “dietary approaches to stop hypertension,” the DASH diet promotes eating foods such as fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains, poultry and fish. According to the Mayo Clinic, the low-sodium associated with the diet leads to a “lifelong approach to healthy eating that’s designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure.”
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In January, U.S. News & World Report labeled the DASH diet the second-best diet after the Mediterranean diet.
The recent study, conducted by researchers through the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School, discovered that the diet has other benefits as well.
The study found those with elevated blood pressure who followed the DASH diet saw their biomarkers linked to heart damage decline 18 percent, while biomarkers linked to heart damage and inflammation declined 13 percent.
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“It was demonstrated that the DASH diet reduced cholesterol and blood pressure, and then our study goes beyond that and shows that it lowers damage to cardiac heart muscles,” the study’s lead author, Stephen Juraschek, told USA TODAY.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one person in the United States dies every 36 seconds from cardiovascular disease.
“It’s not a small decision to eat a healthy diet,” Juraschek said, “but it can have important implications for long-term heart health.”
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