'Dash Diet' Named Most Effective

A U.S. News and World Report panel of 20 health experts named the Dash Diet the most effective diet program of all.

Dash, which stands for 'Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension,' calls for a diet high in fruit and vegetable intake and low in meat and dairy consumption.

Those who adhere to the diet can experience a reduction of blood pressure in just two weeks. James Blumenthal, professor of neuroscience at Duke Medical Center, relayed to Mother Nature Network some of the Dash dietary study’s additional implications “for slowing down or even reversing age-related cognitive deficits, which may even have greater impact among people vulnerable to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.”

Health experts are hoping to use the Dash Diet as a model to educate young females between the ages of nine and 19 about healthy dietary lifestyles. Dr. Joseph Diamond, director of nuclear cardiology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Hyde Park, N.Y., urged iVilllage Health that health education at a young age can prevent heart problems during middle age. “I think starting between nine and 19 is the right time to do it.”

The Dash Diet manual; 'The Dash Diet Action Plan,' is ranked number one in a variety of health and food related categories on Amazon.com.