The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine · Nov 2, 2026

Targeted Metabolites Associated with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet and Blood Pressure Changes in the DASH and DASH-Sodium Feeding Trials

By Yang J, Sullivan VK, Kim H et al.

BACKGROUND: Blood pressure decreases in response to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. Previous studies have identified metabolites associated with DASH diet and blood pressure reduction. Yet, these metabolites were quantified in relative units using untargeted approaches, which is not directly translatable to clinical use. The extent to which these diet-related metabolites correlate with absolute measures from targeted assays remains poorly characterized. METHODS: We measured serum concentrations of 15 metabolites previously identified as key differentiators between the DASH and control diets using targeted assays in the DASH (n = 216) and DASH-Sodium (n = 345) randomized controlled feeding trials. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to assess pairwise correlations between targeted and untargeted measurements. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess associations between targeted and untargeted measurements of DASH-related metabolites, to assess associations between metabolites and changes in blood pressure, and test for interactions by diet assignment. RESULTS: In the DASH trial, relative and absolute concentrations of 7 serum metabolites were strongly correlated (r = 0.91 to 0.99). The DASH diet intervention increased absolute serum concentrations of N-methylproline the most, and significantly decreased theobromine. Absolute concentrations of 12 metabolites in the DASH trial and 10 in the DASH-Sodium trial were significantly different between DASH vs control diet interventions. Eight significant metabolite-diet interactions were observed for changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure in both trials (all P for interaction <0.05). CONCLUSION: Targeted metabolomics confirmed key DASH-related biomarkers and enhanced the reproducibility of identified mechanisms through which the DASH diet lowers blood pressure.

doi.org/10.1093/jalm/jfag161Open accessPubMed 42968515Interventions