The Effect of Nutrition Education Based on DASH Diet on Blood Pressure and Dietary Adherence Among PatientsWith Hypertension

Background: High blood pressure is a major health threat and self-control has great importance inits management. Hence, a nutrition model is presented based on dietary approach to stophypertension (DASH) diet. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of training onadherence to DASH diet on blood pressure among hypertensive patients in Rasht, North of Iran.Methods: A total of 150 hypertensive patients visiting health care centers were randomly dividedinto education intervention and control groups. Food frequency questionnaire were completedbefore and 2.5 months after the intervention. Patients’ blood pressure was measured at the sametime interval. The post-baseline DASH diet components and blood pressure between the two studygroups were compared using analysis of covariance.Results: Participants’ mean age was 56.08 ± 6.1 years and 76% of them were female. At baseline, thedaily intake of dairies, fruits, and nuts and beans were significantly lower than the recommended DASHvalues in both groups. In contrast of fat, tea and salty food, all post-baseline DASH diet components inthe intervention group were significantly higher than the control group. The intervention group had asignificantly lower systolic blood pressure compared to control group 2.5 months after of the intervention.Conclusion: Our results indicated that training nutrition based on DASH diet can be considered asa useful strategy to control high blood pressure among hypertensive patients.

کلیدواژه ها:

Blood pressure ، DASH diet ، Health education ، Hypertension