Which Is More Effective in Hypertension?: Salt-Free Diet vs. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet

Abstract Background: Although there is strong evidence that the DASH diet lowers blood pressure in national guideline recommendations, the studyresults are still uncertain. Aims: In this randomized controlled intervention study, it was aimed to compare the effects of the DASH diet and salt-free diet on blood pressure. Methods: This study was conducted on 60 volunteers with primary hypertension aged 51.8±9.2 years. The participants were randomly divided into two groups. One group (n=30) was given an individualized DASH diet, the other was given a salt-free diet (n=30). Three-day food consumption and physical activity levels and anthropometric measurements of individuals were collected. The participant’s blood pressure, biochemical parameters were monitored at the beginning of the study, in the first and second months. Results: At the beginning of the study, the DASH diet group had higher intakes of energy, fiber, insoluble fiber, omega 3 fatty acids, PUFA, EPA, K, and Mg compared to the salt-free diet group (p<0.05) at the beginning of the study. While the group effect did not create a significant difference in systolic blood pressure values in all hypertensive patients, it was determined that systolic blood pressure values decreased statistically over time. At the end of the second month; the systolic blood pressure of the salt-free diet group (121.03±9.73 mmHg) was statistically significantly lower than the DASH diet group (126.81±8.91 mmHg) (p<0.05). (p<0.05). Conclusions: In this study, the effect of a salt-free diet on lowering systolic blood pressure was found to be more positive than the individualized DASH diet.