The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet
has been shown to decrease blood pressure.7,8 It has also been
associated with a lower incidence of self-reported hypertension
in women.9 The DASH diet provides high amounts of
whole grains, fruits, and vegetables; a moderate amount of
low-fat protein; and low levels of fat, added sugars, and sodium.
Food group recommendations are designed to reach
specific targets for macronutrients and micronutrients based
on a person’s total energy intake. Clinicians often advise people
with diabetes to lose weight and improve their diet to
come in line with the American Diabetes Association’s nutrition
recommendations, which are similar to the DASH
diet.10-12 The American Diabetes Association also specifically
recommends the DASH diet for people with diabetes
who have high blood pressure.10 However, there have been
few studies examining whether the dietary patterns of people
with diabetes differ from those of people without diabetes,
especially with regard to the DASH diet.
Our purpose was to examine consistency with the DASH
diet among adults with self-reported diabetes (with and
without self-reported high blood pressure, separately)
compared with adults without self-report of diabetes and
without self-report of high blood pressure in a large, nationally
representative sample of US adults. The hypothesis
was that adults with both self-reported diabetes and selfreported
high blood pressure may be more likely to have
dietary patterns closer to the DASH diet than those without
either disease. Some studies have shown slightly healthier
eating patterns for adults with diabetes than adults without
diabetes, such as lower intake of fat or more servings of
oatmeal/oat foods and fruit.13,14