Dash dieet
- Article
- 2021-02-01
DASH is a flexible and balanced eating plan that helps create a heart-healthy eating style for life.
The DASH eating plan does not require any special foods and instead provides daily and weekly nutritional goals. This plan recommends:
- Eat vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
- Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and vegetable oils
- Limiting foods high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, whole dairy products, and tropical oils such as coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and palm oil
- Limit sugar-sweetened drinks and sweets.
Based on these recommendations, the following table shows examples of daily and weekly servings that meet the DASH eating plan goals for a 2,000 calorie per day diet.
Daily and weekly DASH eating plan goals for a 2,000 calorie per day diet
Food group | Daily servings |
|---|---|
Cereals | 6–8 |
Meat, poultry and fish | 6 or less |
Vegetables | 4–5 |
Fruit | 4–5 |
Low-fat or fat-free dairy products | 2–3 |
Fats and oils | 2–3 |
Sodium | 2300 mg * |
Weekly servings | |
Nuts, seeds, dry beans and peas | 4–5 |
Sweets | 5 or less |
* 1,500 milligrams (mg) of sodium lowers blood pressure even more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day.
When following the DASH eating plan, it's important to choose foods that:
- Low in saturated and trans fats
- Rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, fiber and proteins
- Less sodium
Health Benefits of the DASH Eating Plan - DASH Eating Plan
Four NHLBI-funded studies tested the health benefits of the DASH diet by comparing the DASH diet to the typical American diet or by comparing different variants of the DASH diet. Another NHLBI-funded study, the PREMIER clinical trial, measured the health benefits of following the DASH diet and increasing physical activity. The results of these studies showed that the DASH diet lowers blood pressure and LDL cholesterol in the blood and formed the recommendations of the NHLBI's DASH eating plan, which included following a DASH diet with reduced sodium intake.
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