A major study reviewed the diets of over 36,000 women for 7 years and they discovered an apparent correlation between a diet designed to lower blood pressure and heart failure.

The women in the study were between 48 and 83 years old and at the beginning of the study did not have a history of heart failure, diabetes mellitus or myocardial infarction. Using food-frequency questionnaires, the researchers compared participant’s diets to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet guidelines. After adjusting for variables such as age and socioeconomic background, they discovered that the women whose diet most closely resembled the DASH diet had a significantly lower risk of heart failure.

When they compared the quarter of women whose diets were the furthest from the DASH guidelines, to the quarter whose diets were the closest to the DASH diet, they found that the 25% of women whose diets most resembled the DASH guidelines saw a 37% reduction in their risk of heart failure. Upon further analysis, the researchers found that the 10% of women whose diet was most like the DASH diet saw a full 50% decrease in their risk of heart failure.

Source:

“Consistency With the DASH Diet and Incidence of Heart Failure” Emily B. Levitan, ScD; Alicja Wolk, DrMedSci; Murray A. Mittleman, MD, DrPH. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(9):851-857. Can be viewed online at http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/169/9/851.