The effects of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on metabolic risk factors in patients with chronic disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Aims: The DASH diet was designed for helping control of blood pressure but, fortu-nately, it can also be prescribed for many other chronic conditions. The current study intended to assess the potential effects of DASH diet on metabolic risk factors in patients with chronic dis-ease. Data synthesis: We carried out a systematic literature search for RCTs from inception until July 2020. A total of 54 clinical trials were included in the final analysis. Compared to control groups, a significant lower effect of the DASH diet was noted for body weight (-1.59 kg; p < 0.001), BMI (-0.64 kg/m(2); p < 0.001), and WC (-1.93 cm; p < 0.001) as well as for SBP (-3.94 mmHg; p < 0.001) and DBP (-2.44 mmHg; P < 0.001). The DASH diet significantly decreased TC (-5.12 mg/dl; p = 0.008) and LDL-C levels (-3.53 mg/dl; p = 0.041), but not HDL-C (0.30 mg/dl; p = 0.510), TG (-4.22 mg/dl; p = 0.067), and VLDL-C (-2.16 mg/dl; p = 0.062). No significant effect of the DASH diet was noted for blood glucose (-0.38 mg/dl; p = 0.216), in-sulin (-0.03 mu IU/mL; p = 0.817), HOMA-IR (-0.15; p = 0.132), and CRP (-0.33 mg/l; p = 0.173). Conclusions: The DASH diet is a feasible approach to weight loss and to control blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia. (C) 2021 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.