Abstract
In order to clarify the efficacy of dietary therapy, a way of treating hypertension, dietary guidance based on each patient's weekly diet was given once a week to 46 treated and untreated hypertensive factory workers. The dietary therapy was continued for 11 weeks, and its content was low sodium and low caloric and contained sufficient nutrition for the subjects to carry on their normal work duties. Blood pressure and body weight were measured weekly ; chest X-ray, eye-ground examination and ECG were performed before the onset of therapy ; urinalysis and biochemistry were conducted before and after this dietary therapy, as well. With dietary therapy, blood pressure fell gradually and body weight tended to decrease in both the treated and untreated patients. A significant relationship was observed between the rise in blood pressure and salt intake. Laboratory findings showed no marked changes. As a result, it seems that this dietary therapy is quite effective in the treatment of hypertension. This study is significant in that it tends to verify the importance of dietary therapy in the treatment of hypertension and in that workers who followed this program were able to maintain this dietary therapy in a group while leading their normal daily lives.
