Awareness of DASH Diet among Hypertensive Patients in Ido-Osi Local Government Hospitals, Ekiti State Nigeria

The study investigated the level of awareness of the DASH diet among hypertensive patients in Ido-Osi local government hospitals, Ekiti State Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with three specific purposes, three research questions, and one null hypothesis to guide the study. The population of the study is 282 hypertensive patients, which include both in and outpatients from the seven local government hospitals who were present at the moment of data collection. No sampling technique was used as the whole of the population was used. A 27- item structured and validated questionnaire was used in the data collection and the data analysis was done using Mean and Standard deviation by SPSS version 20.0 and ANOVA for the analysis of the one null hypothesis. Cronbach Alpha Reliability Method was used to determine the internal consistency and 0.81 was obtained. The major findings of the study are the poor level of awareness of the DASH diet as revealed in their poor consumption of fruits and vegetables, consumption of red meat, sugars, sweets, saturated fats, and cholesterols among others. It also reveals that factors like illiteracy and economic factor among others challenge their awareness about the DASH diet. Strategies developed to increase awareness of the DASH diet among others include nutrition education and the installation of registered dietitians in government hospitals.