Читать книгу DASH Diet For Dummies - Sarah Samaan - Страница 37

People have known for more than a century that high blood pressure is harmful, yet effective treatments didn’t hit the market until the 1950s. Thanks to the hard work of medical researchers around the world, a wide variety of medications are now available. This is great, but medications can be costly, and even the very best options have potential side effects. Take a look at these stats:

 More than two-thirds of people with hypertension need at least two drugs to keep their numbers under control.

 Blood pressure medications can be lifesaving, but, depending on the pill, side effects can occur in up to 15 percent of people.

 A typical blood pressure pill lowers blood pressure about 10 points — about the same reduction you see when following DASH.

 By cutting sodium to 1,500 milligrams, à la low-sodium DASH, the effect could be equal to two different drugs (take a look at Table 2-1 to see just how effective reducing your daily sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams can be).

TABLE 2-1 Effects of a 1,500-Milligram Sodium DASH Diet on Reducing Both Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure

Characteristics	Systolic Blood Pressure (in Millimeters of Mercury)	Diastolic Blood Pressure (in Millimeters of Mercury)
Hypertensive	–12 mm Hg	–6 mm Hg
Pre-hypertensive	–7 mm Hg	–4 mm Hg
Age over 45	–12 mm Hg	–6 mm Hg
Age under 45	–6 mm Hg	–3 mm Hg
African American (all)	–10 mm Hg	–5 mm Hg
White and others (all)	–8 mm Hg	–4 mm Hg
Male	–7 mm Hg	–4 mm Hg
Female	–11 mm Hg	–5 mm Hg

Source: Study from the New England Journal of Medicine, 2001.

Ironically, health experts know more about how to lower blood pressure with diet and lifestyle than ever before, but rates of hypertension continue to rise. That’s because people are eating more of the wrong stuff and less of the good stuff, exercising less, and carrying more weight. You don’t have to be a genius to see that you can save a lot of dough and feel better if you get in sync with DASH.

An analysis from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco reported that if Americans simply shaved off a third of their average daily sodium intake, the following would occur:

 New heart disease cases could be cut by up to 120,000 per year.

 Strokes would be reduced by as many as 66,000.PRESENTING THE “BEST OVERALL DIET”In January 2013, U.S. News and World Report reviewed 29 different diets designed to improve health and well-being and awarded DASH “Best Overall Diet.” The publication based this designation on several criteria, including the following:Nutritional valueHeart healthDiabetesSafetyEase of useEffectiveness for short- and long-term weight lossWhen the results were tallied, DASH came out ahead of the pack, which included the Mediterranean Diet, the Mayo Clinic Diet, and the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Diet (from NIH). DASH has remained at or near the top of the rankings ever since. When heart doctors and jaded journalists can agree on something this important, it’s worth taking note.

 As many as 99,000 heart attacks could be averted.

 92,000 lives could be spared.

If those numbers don’t impress you (and we’re not sure why they wouldn’t), consider this: If everyone trimmed their salt habit, healthcare cost savings in the U.S. alone could amount to as much as $10 billion to $24 billion annually. And this doesn’t even get into the benefits that may surface if everyone chose to put a little more DASH into their lives. That’s powerful medicine indeed.