A diet with specified targets for fruit, vegetable and dairy intake - the so-called WELL diet - is more effective than a typical Low fat diets in reducing blood pressure, Australian researchers report.

Dr. Caryl A. Nowson and colleagues at Deakin University in Burwood enrolled 54 male volunteers who were either overweight or obese in a study comparing the two diets. The men’s blood pressure was in the upper normal to elevated range.

As reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 27 of the men were randomly assigned to the WELL diet. This stipulates four or more daily servings of fruit, four or more daily servings of vegetables, and three or more daily servings of nonfat dairy products, along with fish at least three times per week, legumes at least once per week and unsalted nuts and seeds four times per week.

Red meat is restricted to no more than two servings per week.

The other 27 volunteers, who were assigned to the low-fat diet group, were advised to limit intake of high-energy foods, reduce saturated fat intake, choose mainly plant-based foods, consume nonfat or reduced fat dairy products, limit cheese and ice cream to twice per week, select lean meat and avoid fried food.

Subjects in both groups were advised to participate in moderate intensity exercise for at least 30 minutes on all or most days of the week, and to monitor their blood pressure at home.

The rate of weight loss did not differ significantly between groups - 5 percent to 6 percent over 12 weeks.

However, blood pressure was decreased significantly more in the WELL group than in the low-fat diet group.

Food diaries showed greater reductions in fat, saturated fat and sodium in the WELL group, and increases in percent of energy from protein and from carbohydrates, as well as higher intake of potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus than in the low-fat group.

“It appears…that a diet combining these nutrient changes - eg, lower sodium and saturated fat and higher potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus - within a diet and physical activity pattern that induces negative energy balance achieves a greater reduction in blood pressure than does a low-fat diet,” Nowson’s group concludes.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 2005.