USA &#8211, The DASH diet (dietary approaches to stop hypertension), which includes three servings of low fat dairy foods and eight to ten servings of fruit and vegetables every day, may help reduce the risk of blood pressure as effectively as some medications, according to research published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a 14 week study, 412 adults were given one of two eating plans: a typical American diet or the DASH diet. Participants also consumed one of three different sodium levels from high to low. When compared to the typical American diet, the DASH diet lowered blood pressure at all sodium levels.

David W Harsha of the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre at Louisiana University, and co-author of the study, said: “If the American population as a whole adopted the DASH diet, it would reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease by about 15%, and from stroke by about 27%.”