What diet prevents early death?
American scientists have created a diet that significantly lowers blood pressure and improves heart function in one of the most common forms of heart failure.
The authors named their diet DASH /Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, which can be tentatively translated as “dietary approach for the prevention of hypertension”.
In the patients who adhered to this nutritional regime for 21 days, a significant lowering of arterial pressure was observed over time, comparable to that achieved when taking medicinal preparations.
“Our research work is based on the simple notion that poor nutrition can worsen the course of chronic heart failure. Therefore,arbitrary decision-making regarding the diet is inadmissible and any change in it should be carefully discussed with the attending physician. state of Michigan, USA.
One of the forms of heart failure is diastolic dysfunction – a condition in which the heart muscle hardens and becomes non-functional because it is not supplied with blood efficiently enough.
This disease is very common, but unfortunately at the moment its pharmacological treatment is accompanied by a number of difficulties.
During the study period described above, patients were required to keep a food diary and consume only that food that was prepared by Michigan State University specifically for the study.
Food could be taken home and reheated. The age of most of the participants was between 60 and 70 years.
A characteristic feature of the foods included in the special diet is that they were very good sources of potassium, magnesium, calcium and antioxidants.
In addition, the consumption of salt was strictly limited – no more than 1150 mg. per day. By comparison, the amount consumed by the average American is about 4,200 mg. – almost 4 times more.
In Bulgaria, too, the average daily consumption of salt is seriously increased, it is even many times more than in the USA, about 15 grams per day.
As a result of observing this diet, in addition to the lowering of blood pressure, scientists also note another positive effect – improving myocardial relaxation and, as a consequence, increasing the efficiency of heart function.
You can effortlessly replicate the scientific work done at home by simply starting to keep a food diary, measure your blood pressure every day and above all, get the salt shaker off the table.
