title: Dietary approaches to hypertension: a call to pharmacists to promote lifestyle changes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe guideline updates regarding a dietary approach to preventing or treating hypertension and to encourage pharmacists to provide education to patients on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and reducing dietary sodium intake.
  
  
  METHODS
  Abstracts and published articles identified by searching Medline (January 2001 to July 2011) and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (January 2001 to July 2011) using the terms hypertension, cardiovascular risk, risk reduction behavior, health behavior, community pharmacy services, counseling, diet, and sodium-restricted diet, as well as reports from the Institute of Medicine and Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, the recommended daily dietary sodium intakes for individuals with hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes was reduced to less than 1,500 mg per day. All other healthy individuals are recommended to achieve dietary sodium intakes of less than 2,300 mg per day. Americans are consuming excessive amounts of dietary sodium in the form of processed foods, which poses a barrier to blood pressure control. Pharmacists should recommend the DASH diet as a way to reduce intake of dietary sodium and use available nutrition resources found on the ChooseMyPlate.gov and Food and Drug Administration websites. Pharmacists should integrate approaches using behavioral and motivational strategies to provide education that is culturally sensitive and appeals to individuals with marginal health literacy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Community and ambulatory practice pharmacists, as well as collaborative practice models between pharmacists and physicians, should optimize medication management and incorporate lifestyle interventions that reduce dietary sodium intake as part of a comprehensive approach to improve hypertension outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences, 600 S. 43rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. g.earl@usciences.edu
authors.forename: Grace L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Earl
authors.forename: Jule Anne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Henstenburg
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D004032:Diet / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000628:therapy*; D008019:Life Style; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010595:Pharmacists; D024382:Professional Role; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012982:Sodium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D012982:Sodium, Dietary