Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and mental well-being: a systematic review

Abstract

Context: The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is one of the most commonly prescribed diets for preventing and controlling hypertension. However, the relationship between the DASH diet and mental health and well-being has yet to be systematically understood.

Objective: To fill this gap, the present review systematically examined the current literature on the association between the DASH diet and mental health.

Data sources: The Web of Science, PsycINFO, and PubMed databases were systematically searched to identify eligible publications up to May 2021. Interventional and observational studies published in English allowing for inferences about mental well-being were included.

Data extraction: Two authors independently assessed the quality of reviewed studies using the NIH quality assessment tool and extracted qualitative data. Conflicts were adjudicated by the senior author.

Data analysis: A total of 16 studies involving 48 824 participants were included in the final review: Ten were observational studies and 6 were randomized controlled trials. On average, the methodological quality of the studies was medium strength. Mixed results on psychological measures were reported, but in general, the DASH diet was associated with better mental well-being. Five observational studies supported a negative association between adherence to the DASH diet and depressive symptoms/depression. Four randomized controlled trials provided evidence of the beneficial effects of the DASH diet on mental health, including quality of life and emotional symptoms.

Conclusion: The DASH diet likely has positive effects on mental well-being, but the results were inconsistent across different studies, which might be likely due to differences in methods of assessments of the DASH diet and mental health outcomes. Well-powered randomized controlled trials with mental well-being as the primary outcome are needed in the future.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration no. CRD42021267667.

Keywords: DASH diet; dietary approaches to slow hypertension; dietary index; epidemiology; mental health psychological well-being; systematic review.