Specifically, you'll want to eat foods that are high in potassium, magnesium, calcium, and fiber. Some examples of DASH-approved foods are oatmeal, leafy greens, potatoes, apples, bananas, oranges, fish, and mixed nuts.
Research on the DASH diet's effect on blood pressure
A 2017 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology examined 412 participants with pre-hypertension or stage-one hypertension. The study found that the participants who followed the DASH diet and reduced their sodium intake to 1,150 milligrams per day for 30 days straight saw a greater reduction in their systolic blood pressure than participants who ate a standard American diet.
Moreover, the higher a person's systolic blood pressure was at the start of the study, the greater the improvement they saw from following a low-sodium DASH diet. For example, people whose original systolic blood pressure was greater than 150 mm Hg saw a decrease of as much as 15.54 mm Hg, whereas people whose original systolic blood pressure was less than 130 mm Hg saw a drop of as much as 2.07 mm Hg.
A 2014 review in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Disease found that the DASH diet was also associated with lower diastolic blood pressure as well as systolic blood pressure.
And while these two studies didn't examine the diet's effect on blood pressure in the long term, a 2014 study published in the American Journal of Hypertension found that a 16-week structured DASH diet was associated with lower systolic blood pressure for the next eight months.
Moreover, a 2018 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition of 1,409 participants over 24 to 28 years found that living by a DASH diet might also improve a person's cardiovascular health, as it was associated with higher levels of HDL cholesterol and lower pulse wave velocity, a measure of a person's arterial health. Cardiovascular health was even better for people who paired the DASH diet with regular exercise, the study found.
However, the benefits of this diet may extend beyond hypertension and heart health.
"Although the original research was about the benefits of the DASH diet on hypertension, it would be a diet I recommend for everyone," Sasson said.
She said it's a diet that's easy to follow, since it isn't very specific and there aren't many restrictions, aside from cutting out excessive sweets — the NIH recommends five servings of sweets a week at most.
"The diet is very safe and sustainable for anybody who's looking to eat healthier," Sasson said. "It's exactly how we would advise all people to eat."
While the main focus of this diet is not weight loss, Sasson said many people do end up losing some weight on the diet, since many of them are eating healthier, less processed foods, and cutting back on snacking. A 2016 study found that the DASH diet was more effective for weight loss than other low-energy diets, especially for participants who were overweight or obese.
According to Sasson, the DASH diet is also a good way to educate people on what healthy meals look like, especially when so many of us eat on the go and opt for processed foods.
"We should look at it as one of the healthiest ways to eat," she said.