Too much salt is bad. Eating a daily banana - or sweet potato - might be a good idea. But when it comes to controlling your blood pressure through diet, it's best to think bigger, experts say.
Your whole diet, not any miracle food or salt reduction alone, is the key to getting those numbers down and potentially lowering your risk for stroke, heart attack, kidney damage and other diseases. The right diet also might help keep you off medication or lower your doses, according to the American Heart Association.
That's a message that's been lost amid recent scientific arguments about the ideal amount of salt for Americans to eat, says Lawrence Appel, director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore. Appel, who also is a spokesperson for the heart association, is, however, in the camp that says salt is a major contributor to high blood pressure and to disease and death. Studies that fail to show a direct link between high-salt diets, disease and death have been flawed but widely publicized, he says: "That's really unfortunate."
Strong studies do show that dietary habits, including sodium intake, have a significant effect on blood pressure itself. Diets that emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, poultry, fish and nuts while minimizing red meat and sugars are best, the heart association says. That pretty much describes DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) - the best-studied diet for controlling blood pressure. The diet was developed in studies sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
At the heart of the DASH diet are specific targets for key food groups - including 3-6 daily servings of vegetables and 3-6 daily servings of fruit, depending on calorie needs.
In studies, people who ate the DASH diet without cutting sodium achieved lower blood pressures than those who ate typical American diets. Those who combined DASH with reducing sodium, to 2,300 mg. per day, did even better; those who cut sodium to 1,500 mg, did best. The typical American consumes about 3,600 mg.
The key to success may be the balance of minerals - the subtracted sodium and the added potassium, calcium and magnesium, says Appel, a lead DASH researcher. Potassium looks especially important, he says.
"Higher levels of potassium blunt the effects of sodium. If you can't reduce or won't reduce sodium, adding potassium may help," he says. "But doing both is better."
Potassium is plentiful in many fruits (cantaloupes and oranges, as well as bananas) and vegetables (from potatoes to spinach), but also in fish, nuts and dairy foods.
The Food and Drug Administration recognized potassium as a blood pressure reducer when it proposed new food labels this year: It added the mineral to the required list on labels. The typical American eats 2,600 mg. of potassium a day, well below the recommended 4,700 mg. But reading processed food labels is not the best way to pump up your potassium, lower your sodium or get the other benefits of the DASH diet, says Janet Brill, a registered dietitian and author of several books on cardiovascular health. Eating lots of fresh, unprocessed food and preparing much of it yourself is better, she says.
"If your food is coming from a bag, a box, a can or off a menu, the odds are really good that it's not going to be DASH friendly," she says.
Calls to cut convenience foods and add multiple daily servings of fruits and vegetables can make the diet sound hard, but it doesn't have to be, says Marla Heller, a registered dietitian who has written several books on DASH dieting. You can get three servings of vegetables by having a cup of cooked vegetables (that's 2 servings) and a small salad (that's one) at dinner, she says. If you are going out, load up on fruits and vegetables earlier in the day, she says - and order some steamed vegetables with your entree or a big salad before a shared pizza. Learn to hide some veggies in your meatloaf, add fruit to your yogurt, snack on nuts and pick up a few other habits, and "most people find it's easier than they expected," she says.
"Don't' think of this as a science project," Heller says. "What you want is flavorful, colorful, satisfying food."
Here's what someone eating 2,000 calories a day should aim for (daily, unless otherwise noted) according to a DASH guide from the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute:

· Grains (mostly whole): 6-8 servings (1 = a slice of bread, 1 oz. of dry cereal or 1/2 cup cooked pasta)
· Vegetables: 4-5 servings (1 = 1 cup raw, leafy greens or 1/2 cup other raw/cooked veggies)
· Fruits: 4-5 servings (1 = 1 medium fruit, 1/4 cup dried fruit or 1/2 cup other fruit)
· Dairy (low or no-fat): 2-3 servings (1 = 1 cup milk or yogurt, 1 1/2 oz. of cheese)
· Lean meat, poultry, fish: 6 or fewer servings (1 = 1 oz.. meat or 1 egg)
· Nuts, seeds, legumes: 4-5 servings a week (1 = 1/3 cup nuts, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 1/2 cup cooked legumes)
· Fats and oil: 2 to 3 servings (1 = 1 teaspoon vegetable oil or 2 tablespoons dressing)
· Sweets: 5 or fewer servings a week (1 = 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 cup sorbet or 1 cup lemonade)
· Sodium: 2,300 mg. or 1,500 mg, depending on blood pressure readings and other risk factors.

소금을 다량 섭취하는 것은 나쁘다. 매일 바나나 또는 고구마를 먹는 것은 좋은 생각일지 모르지만 식사를 통해 혈압을 조절 하려고 하는 것이 가장 최선의 방법이다라고 전문가는 말한다.
어떤 신비한 식품이 소금을 줄이는 것이 아니라 당신의 전체적인 식사가 뇌졸중, 심장마비, 신장 손상과 다른 질병의 위험을 낮출 수 있는 중요한 열쇠이다. 미국 심장협회(American Heart Association)에 따르면 올바른 식사는 의약품으로부터 멀어지게 하고 복용량을 줄일 수 있도록 도와줄 것이라고 한다.
저명한 연구들에서는 나트륨(sodium)을 섭취하는 식습관 그 자체가 혈압에 중요한 영향을 끼침을 보여준다. 미국 심장협회(American Heart Association)는 붉은 고기와 설탕 섭취를 최소화하고 과일, 야채, 전곡류, 저지방 유제품, 가금류, 생선과 견과류가 포함된 식사의 중요성을 강조한다. DASH(Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) 식단은 위에서 언급한 혈압조절을 위한 좋은 식단이라 할 수 있겠다. 미국 심장 협회(American Heart Association)에서 제시하는 DASH(Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) 식단의 중요한 특징은 필요 열량에 따라 채소와 과일을 하루 3~6 serving 포함하는 것이다.
나트륨(sodium) 제한 없이 DASH식사를 한 사람들은 전형적인 미국식 식사를 하는 사람들에 비해 혈압이 낮았다. 하루에 2,300mg으로 나트륨(sodium)을 줄이고 DASH 식사를 한 사람들은 훨씬 더 좋았고, 나트륨(sodium)을 1,500mg으로 줄이고 DASH 식사를 한 사람들이 가장 좋은 결과를 얻었다. 전형적인 미국인은 하루에 3,600mg을 섭취한다.
혈압을 조절하는데 중요한 열쇠는 무기질의 균형에 있을지 모른다. DASH 식단을 연구하는 대표적인 학자 Lawrence Appel은 나트륨(sodium)을 줄이고 칼륨(potassium) 과 칼슘(calcium), 마그네슘(magnesium) 섭취를 늘리고, 특히 칼륨(potassium)의 중요성을 다음과 같이 강조하였다. “ 칼륨 섭취가 높을수록 나트륨의 효과를 무력화한다. 만약 당신이 나트륨 섭취량을 감소시킬 수 없고 감소시키지 않을 거라면 칼륨의 섭취량을 늘리는 것이 도움이 될지도 모른다.” “하지만 둘 다 하는 것이 더 좋다.”
칼륨은 과일(메론, 오렌지, 바나나)와 채소(감자, 시금치), 생선, 견과류와 유제품에 풍부하게 들어있다.
FDA(Food and Drug Administration)는 올해 식품 표시 라벨에 칼륨을 추가하는 것을 제안했다. 전형적인 미국인은 하루에 2,600mg의 칼륨을 섭취하는 데 이는 권장되는 4,700mg보다 훨씬 낮다.
영양사(Registered dietitian) Janet Brill은 칼륨의 섭취량을 늘리기 위해 식품 표시를 읽는 것보다는 나트륨 섭취량을 줄이는 가장 최선의 방법은 DASH 식사를 하는 것이라고 말한다. 또한, 신선하고 가공되지 않은 식품을 먹고 스스로 음식을 준비해서 먹는 것이 더 좋은 방법이라고 말한다.