Low Sodium DASH Diet May Reduce Blood Pressure in Patients With T2D
A modified DASH diet with lower sodium optimized for patients with type 2 diabetes reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
A modified Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet that optimized for lower sodium could help reduce blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), according to data published in JAMA Internal Medicine.1 Authors of the study said that the findings highlight the importance of reducing dietary sodium in this patient population.
Low Sodium DASH Diet May Reduce Blood Pressure in Patients With T2D / nadianb - stock.adobe.com
Hypertension frequently occurs in people with diabetes, with prevalence influenced by factors such as diabetes type, duration, age, sex, race/ethnicity, BMI, kidney disease, and glycemic control. It is a major risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), heart failure, and microvascular complications—key contributors to diabetes-related morbidity, mortality, and costs. Studies show that managing hypertension and other risk factors significantly reduces these complications.2
“The DASH diet has been around for a long time, and is part of the standard treatment for hypertension,” Scott Pilla, MD, MHS, lead author on the study, said in a release.3 “We know that it lowers blood pressure, but there has been little study of this diet and sodium reduction in people with diabetes. The goal of the study was to develop a new version of the DASH diet and see how effective it was in lowering blood pressure for people with diabetes.”
Investigators from Johns Hopkins University conducted a study to determine the impact of diet and sodium reduction on blood pressure in adult patients with T2D. The researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial (NCT04286555) that included 105 adult patients with T2D who had a baseline systolic blood pressure of 120-159 mmHg and a baseline diastolic blood pressure of less than 100 mmHg.
For the study, the investigators developed a modified DASH diet that was optimized for the nutritional needs of adults with T2D, called the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension for Diabetes (DASH4D). Patients were randomly assigned to eat 1 of 4 diets: DASH4D with lower sodium, DASH4D with higher sodium, a typical US diet with lower sodium, or a typical US diet with higher sodium.
The study found that the lower sodium DASH4D diet reduced systolic blood pressure by 4.6 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 2.3 mmHg compared to the higher sodium DASH4D diet. Most of the blood pressure reduction occurred within the first 3 weeks. Although systolic blood pressure was slightly reduced for the lower sodium DASH4D diet compared to the typical US diet, there was no significant difference at the higher sodium level.
Study limitations include insufficient power to detect the effects of the DASH4D diet and sodium reduction separately and that the study population was not as diverse as planned.
“A lot of people are interested in controlling diabetes and their blood pressure through diet and other lifestyle changes,” Lawrence Appel, MD, MPH, corresponding author on the study, said in a release.3 “Most people in this study were taking more than one blood pressure medication, but we found that you can lower it further with dietary change. Blood pressure is one of the most important numbers to control because the higher the number, the higher the risk of stroke and heart disease.”
READ MORE: Diabetes Resource Center
Ready to impress your pharmacy colleagues with the latest drug information, industry trends, and patient care tips? Sign up today for our free Drug Topics newsletter.
