The effectiveness of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet has shown to have limited impact on blood pressure control among African Americans, which might be explained by inappropriate adaptation to African American culture and tradition. Therefore, the adequate adaptation of the DASH diet would result in blood pressure control among African-Americans. Using the nominal group technique as a part of the formative assessment, this project proposes to identify key cultural variables that impact dietary patterns for African Americans. Based on those results, a modified behavioral intervention will be developed and tested in African Americans with pre-hypertension or stage I hypertension. Primary outcomes will include change in systolic and diastolic blood pressure at six months. It is expected that this project will contribute an additional tool for physicians, patients and health care systems to improve hypertension control amongst African Americans. The specific aims for this dietary intervention are: (1) to develop a modified DASH dietary pattern that is culturally appropriate for African-Americans by using principals of formative analysis and (2) to conduct a randomized, controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of the modified DASH dietary pattern in reducing blood pressure for a cohort of African-Americans with pre-hypertension or stage I hypertension to a usual care control group.
