The DASH diet may help steady blood sugar as well as lower blood pressure.In a new study, a modified version\u2014DASH4D\u2014lowered average blood sugar by about 11 mg\/dL.Participants spent 75 more minutes a day in the healthy blood sugar range.<\/p>\n
A diet long praised for lowering blood pressure may also help adults with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar<\/a>, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.\n<\/p>\n Type 2 diabetes<\/a> affects more than 38 million Americans, and keeping blood sugar in a healthy range is key to avoiding complications such as heart disease, kidney failure and vision loss. While medications remain the mainstay of treatment, diet also plays a major role\u2014and finding eating habits that are both effective and sustainable can be difficult. That\u2019s why researchers set out to test whether a modified version of the DASH diet<\/a> (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) could help.\n<\/p>\n The findings, published in Nature Medicine, come from an ancillary study of the DASH4D trial<\/a>, which was originally designed to see how a modified DASH diet affected blood pressure in adults with type 2 diabetes. That adapted plan, known as DASH for Diabetes (DASH4D), keeps the heart-healthy foundation<\/a> of the original DASH diet but reduces carbohydrates, increases healthy fats and adjusts potassium levels<\/a> to make it safer for people with kidney problems. That trial showed the plan did, in fact, help lower blood pressure<\/a>. At the same time, researchers also wanted to know if the same approach could improve blood sugar.\n<\/p>\n How Was the Study Conducted? <\/p>\n The study included 89 adults with type 2 diabetes, most of them in their late 60s. About two-thirds were women, and nearly nine in 10 were non-Hispanic Black women. More than half were already taking at least two medications for diabetes. On average, their HbA1c\u2014a common long-term measure of blood sugar\u2014was 7%. Continuous glucose monitors showed their average blood sugar was about 131 mg\/dL, and they spent roughly 84% of the day in the healthy range.\n<\/p>\n The trial used a crossover design, meaning each person tried every diet. Participants rotated through four five-week periods in random order: the DASH4D diet with high sodium, DASH4D with low sodium, a typical American diet with high sodium and the same American diet with low sodium. Each phase was separated by at least a one-week break when participants returned to their usual eating habits.\n<\/p>\n What Did the Study Find? <\/p>\n When participants ate the DASH4D diet, they saw a clinically meaningful drop in average blood sugar and spent more time in the healthy range compared with when they ate a typical American diet. On average, blood sugar levels were 11 mg\/dL lower, and participants stayed in the healthy range for about 75 minutes longer each day.\n<\/p>\n The benefits were seen across all groups but were strongest in people whose diabetes was not controlled very well at the start. For those with an HbA1c of 7% or higher, average blood sugar dropped by 13 to 18 mg\/dL, and time in range rose by seven to 12 percentage points\u2014the equivalent of two to three extra hours per day.\n<\/p>\n How Does This Apply to Real Life? <\/p>\n Even small improvements in blood sugar control<\/a> can make a big difference. Experts say that raising \u201ctime in range\u201d by just three percentage points is considered meaningful; in this study, the DASH4D diet boosted time in range by five points\u2014more than an extra hour each day. That level of improvement has been linked to a 20% to 30% lower risk of complications like kidney disease and vision problems.\n<\/p>\n And because the DASH4D diet builds on everyday staples\u2014fruits, vegetables, whole grains<\/a>, beans, lean proteins and healthy fats<\/a>\u2014the message is practical, not theoretical. Even without perfectly following a research diet, moving meals closer to this pattern could help steady blood sugar. For many people, that might mean keeping more produce on hand<\/a>, swapping white bread for whole grain<\/a>, or choosing beans, nuts or fish more often than red meat. Small steps in this direction can add up to lasting health gains.\n<\/p>\n If you want to try out some DASH diet recipes<\/a>, we have a few to get you started. For a lunch you can bring to work, tote along our Sweet Potato, Kale & Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing<\/a> for a quick, filling bite. There’s also our Balsamic Chicken with Pasta and Zucchini Noodles<\/a>, which is packed with flavor and veggies. To make the meal suit the DASH4D diet, simply reduce the amount of pasta in each serving and replace it with more veggie noodles.\n<\/p>\n Our Expert Take <\/p>\n This study doesn\u2019t reinvent diabetes care, but it adds strong evidence that diet quality matters<\/a> as much as medication. What\u2019s striking is that the improvements happened without weight loss \u2014 just by changing what people ate. For those managing type 2 diabetes, the message is simple: you don\u2019t need a fad diet or drastic overhaul. Steadier blood sugar may come from steady, everyday choices<\/a> built around the foods we already know are good for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The DASH diet may help steady blood sugar as well as lower blood pressure.In a new study, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-100690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}