Combining blood pressure (BP) lowering diet with exercise and weight loss counselling seems to reverse high BP along with other benefits. James A. Blumenthal of Duke University Medical Centre (DUMC), Durham and colleagues studied 144 overweight or obese patients with high BP.

For four months, 46 were assigned to follow the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet; 49 followed the diet and added supervised exercise and cognitive-behavioural weight loss therapy; and 49 ate their usual diet.

BP as measured in the clinic decreased by 16.1/9.9 mm among those in the DASH plus weight management group, 11.2/7.5 mm among those in the DASH alone group and 3.4/3.8 mm of mercury in those following their normal diet.

Other measures of blood vessel and heart function-including mass of the left ventricle-were also most improved in patients assigned to DASH plus weight management, said a DUMC release.

"The present findings suggest that the DASH diet, particularly when augmented by exercise and weight loss, can offer considerable benefit to patients with high blood pressure," the authors conclude.