The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which originated in the 1990s as a result of several NIH-funded research projects, remains one of the top diets employed for the purposes of weight loss and blood pressure management to date. While adherence to the diet is associated with a number of protective benefits to cardiovascular health, and could possibly prevent other diseases, no associations were made between the diet and the risk of developing sarcopenia.
 
Sarcopenia, an age-related condition, is the gradual loss of muscle mass, which is part of the natural aging process, but can later result in more severe conditions which can be debilitating or disabling if it occurs rapidly.
 
The DASH diet emphasizes eating larger quantities of vegetables, fruits, and low-fat dairy foods, with moderate amounts of fish, whole grains, poultry, and nuts. Avoidance of processed and red meats, and limiting sodium intake, is a crucial component of the diet as well, with a goal of around 1,500 mg of sodium but not surpassing 2,300 mg per day. Essentially, the diet boils down to maximizing or minimizing the intake of eight different food groups. It has been protectively linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.
 
A clinical trial published in the journal Nature suggests, however, that associations between the diet and sarcopenia have been relatively unexamined. The authors posited that the dietary pattern could have a number of mechanisms of action which would offer protective benefits against the decline of muscle mass.
 
“Although usual nutritional advices to prevent sarcopenia include protein or amino acids intake, the DASH diet, through its myo-protective components, might also play a direct or indirect role in maintaining muscle health,” the authors said. “Adherence to DASH diet may directly affect muscle health by ameliorating metabolic processes (like oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance) involved in sarcopenia. In addition, DASH diet may reduce the risk of age-related chronic conditions (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer) that are associated with worsening muscle health.”
 
The researchers conducted a population-based cross-sectional study enrolling 300 older men and women 55 years and older, who were able to move without the use of assistive devices. The participants in the study provided a summary of their dietary intake using a 117-item food frequency questionnaire, which the researchers used to determine each participants’ adherence to the DASH diet guidelines.
 
To assess the presence of sarcopenia in each participant, the researchers used a number of guidelines from the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) guidelines, which included measurements of each individual’s total lean muscle mass on arms and legs, to their squared height, in addition to a hand grip strength test, and a walk gait speed test.
 
Finally, after adjusting for cofounding variables, adherence to the DASH diet was not significantly associated with odds of sarcopenia.