CATEGORY: EATING FOR HEART HEALTH
Does a heart-healthy eating pattern still work when it arrives as bags of groceries a household has to cook for itself? A randomized trial of 180 Black adults with elevated blood pressure put that question to the test. The answer was yes, and modest. Twelve weeks of home-delivered groceries matched to the DASH pattern lowered systolic blood pressure 3.4 points more than grocery money alone.1 Systolic pressure, the top number, measures the force while the heart beats. It fell 5.7 points on average in the delivery group, against 2.3 points among people handed the same value in unrestricted stipends.
A Week’s Groceries at the Door
The trial, called GoFresh, enrolled adults living in Boston neighborhoods with limited access to full grocery stores. Everyone had untreated systolic blood pressure between 120 and just under 150. Half received weekly home deliveries of groceries chosen to match the DASH eating plan, ordered online each week with a dietitian’s help. DASH is built around vegetables, fruits, whole grains and low-fat dairy, deliberately rich in potassium and light on sodium. The other half received three $500 stipends to spend on groceries however they chose. Which group a household landed in was settled at random, not by preference.
Money Helped. Chosen Groceries Helped More.
Both groups had lower blood pressure after three months. The delivery group came out ahead by 3.4 systolic points, a range of 0.8 to 5.9 points once statistical uncertainty is counted. Diastolic pressure, the bottom number, measured between beats, fell 2.4 points further in that group. Urine tests showed they were eating meaningfully less sodium, and their LDL cholesterol dropped 8 mg/dL more than the stipend group’s. Weight and blood sugar did not move measurably in either group. Because households were sorted at random rather than followed as they already lived, the credit goes to the groceries themselves and not to the habits of people who happen to eat well.
What Happened When the Deliveries Stopped
Participants were followed for three months after the last delivery. The advantage did not hold. The benefit appears to ride on the healthy food actually being in the house, week after week, rather than on a short course of instruction that reshapes habits for good.
Three Decades of DASH, Now Delivered
The result lands where nutrition research has pointed for nearly thirty years. The original DASH feeding trial found that the pattern lowered blood pressure substantially when researchers provided every meal.2 GoFresh asked the harder, more practical version of that question, in communities where a supermarket may be a bus ride away. The researchers expected delivered DASH groceries with dietitian support to beat money alone. They did.
Key Takeaways
- Over 12 weeks, home-delivered DASH-patterned groceries with dietitian support lowered systolic blood pressure 3.4 points more than equal-value grocery stipends, among 180 Black adults with untreated elevated blood pressure.
- The delivery group also saw a larger fall in diastolic pressure, lower sodium intake and an 8 mg/dL greater drop in LDL cholesterol. Weight and blood sugar were unchanged.
- The advantage faded within three months of the deliveries ending, which fits decades of DASH research showing the pattern lowers pressure while it is being followed.
References
- Juraschek SP, et al. DASH-Patterned Groceries and Effects on Blood Pressure: The GoFresh Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2026;335(1):36–48. link
- Appel LJ, Moore TJ, Obarzanek E, et al. A Clinical Trial of the Effects of Dietary Patterns on Blood Pressure. The New England Journal of Medicine. 1997;336(16):1117–1124. link