Healthy grocery deliveries may help lower blood pressure in adults treated for hypertension
Receiving deliveries of free groceries tailored to the low-sodium DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet helped Black adults being treated for hypertension lower their blood pressure (BP), according to results from the GoFreshRx randomized trial. Reductions persisted during the three months following the trial, which was led by Stephen Juraschek, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The results were published March 28 in Nature Medicine.
The trial enrolled 176 Black adult residents of Boston communities with few grocery stores who were being actively treated for hypertension. They were randomized to receive either 12 weekly deliveries of DASH groceries with dietitian counseling or three monthly $500 stipends to buy groceries.
The patients’ mean baseline BP was 130.5/77.8 mm Hg. (Less than 120/80 mm Hg is considered normal.) After 12 weeks, there was a mean 7 mm Hg reduction in systolic BP (top number) and 1.8 mm Hg reduction in diastolic BP (lower number) in the group that received the DASH groceries. Those in the control group also saw a small reduction in their systolic BP. Although BP increased in both groups over the three months following the intervention, the differences from baseline remained significant, according to the researchers.
Juraschek said in a March 29 Healio article that he and his colleagues are exploring conducting this intervention on a wider scale with support from the American Heart Association.
Read the Healio article: Free, heart-healthy grocery deliveries may improve blood pressure on top of medical therapy
