Low-sodium Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets are base producing but
restrict red meat without clear justification. We hypothesized that a vitality diet (VD), a low-sodium
DASH-type diet with a low dietary acid load containing 6 servings of 100 g cooked lean red meat
per week, would be more effective in reducing blood pressure (BP) compared with a higher acid
load reference healthy diet (RHD) based on general dietary guidelines to reduce fat intake and
increase intake of breads and cereals. A randomized, parallel dietary intervention study was
conducted to compare the BP-lowering effect of these 2 diets in postmenopausal women with high/
normal BP. Women were randomly assigned to follow either VD or RHD for 14 weeks. Home BP
was measured daily with an automated BP monitor under standard conditions. Of 111 women
commencing the study, 95 completed (46 VD, 49 RHD). Systolic BP (SBP) throughout the
intervention was lower in the VD group compared to the RHD group (repeated-measures analysis
of variance time by diet, P = .04), such that at the end of the study, the VD had a fall of SBP by 5.6
± 1.3 mm Hg (mean ± SEM) compared with a fall of 2.7 ± 1.0 mm Hg in the RHD (group
difference, P = .08). When only those taking antihypertensive medications were assessed, the VD
(n = 17) had a significant fall of 6.5 ± 2.5 mm Hg SBP (P = .02) and 4.6 ± 1.4 mm Hg diastolic BP
(P = .005) after 14 weeks, and their BP was lower than that of the RHD group (n = 18) throughout
the study (P b .05). We concluded that a low-sodium DASH diet with a low dietary acid load,
which also included lean red meat on most days of the week, was effective in reducing BP in older
women, particularly in those taking antihypertensive medications.
© 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.