DASH Diet Plan: Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure (2nd Edition) is already fixed the printed plan issue and all new tables and plans are changed for easy reading. Introduction; Research has found that diet affects the development of high blood pressure, or hypertension (the medical term). Recently, two studies showed that following a particular eating plan-called the DASH diet-and reducing the amount of sodium consumed lowers blood pressure. While each step alone lowers blood pressure, the combination of the eating plan and a reduced sodium intake gives the biggest benefit and may help prevent the development of high blood pressure.