Kind of dietary pattern not only leads to nutritional deficiencies but also promotes a cluster of metabolic problems including obesity, reduced insulin sensitivity, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, as well as systematic inflammation-all risk factors for the most common age associated diseases that include cardiovascular diseases, particular cancers, type 2 diabetes, among others. As indicated above, dietary pattern analysis may represent a useful addition to the repertoire of researchers who study the relationship between diet and chronic disease. However, the reality, until very recently, has been that researchers have focused mainly upon the effects of individual nutrients and sometimes foods, but rarely on dietary patterns on disease risk factors, biomarkers, or morbidity. Prospective, nutrition-related cohort studies with MonocrotalineMedChemExpress Monocrotaline all-cause mortality or other aging-related outcomes are not common since a large cohort must be followed for adequate statistical power and/or the duration of follow-up needs to be long for enough events to occur–a component than most studies can ill afford (Willcox et al, 2013).Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptThe DASH DietHigh blood pressure affects approximately 1 in 3 Americans (ML390 web Chobanian et al, 2003). The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is, arguably, the most common physician prescribed diet to fight high blood pressure and was, in fact, originally developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to do just that, therefore, the acronym (Champagne 2006; Savika et al, 2010). The DASH dietary pattern is rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds. It also contains less sodium; sugar; fats; and red meat than the usual western diet as described above. Designed with cardiovascular health in mind, the DASH diet is also lower in saturated and trans fatty acids and cholesterol and rich in nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and fiber that are helpful for lowering blood pressure. Research on the DASH dietary pattern has shown that it not only can lower blood pressure but also improve other risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as HDL cholesterol levels, triglycerides or blood sugar. Long-term studies of the DASH dietary pattern have beenMech Ageing Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 April 24.Willcox et al.Pageassociated with lower risk for hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and several types of cancer, among other chronic age associated diseases (Fung et al. 2010; Shirani et al. 2013; Salehi-Abargouei et al. 2013)Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptThe Portfolio DietAs briefly discussed earlier, in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of diet in reducing serum cholesterol, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) and the American Heart Association recently recommended the use of functional foods, or foods high in components that reduce cholesterol, as options in dietary strategies. With these recommendations in mind the Portfolio Diet was designed by University of Toronto researchers to test the effectiveness of this dietary approach against standard drug therapy (statins) in hypercholesterolemic participants (Jenkins et al, 2003, 2005). Plant foods are emphasized in this vegetarian dietary pattern rich in vegetables such as broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, okra. Whole grains.Kind of dietary pattern not only leads to nutritional deficiencies but also promotes a cluster of metabolic problems including obesity, reduced insulin sensitivity, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, as well as systematic inflammation-all risk factors for the most common age associated diseases that include cardiovascular diseases, particular cancers, type 2 diabetes, among others. As indicated above, dietary pattern analysis may represent a useful addition to the repertoire of researchers who study the relationship between diet and chronic disease. However, the reality, until very recently, has been that researchers have focused mainly upon the effects of individual nutrients and sometimes foods, but rarely on dietary patterns on disease risk factors, biomarkers, or morbidity. Prospective, nutrition-related cohort studies with all-cause mortality or other aging-related outcomes are not common since a large cohort must be followed for adequate statistical power and/or the duration of follow-up needs to be long for enough events to occur–a component than most studies can ill afford (Willcox et al, 2013).Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptThe DASH DietHigh blood pressure affects approximately 1 in 3 Americans (Chobanian et al, 2003). The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is, arguably, the most common physician prescribed diet to fight high blood pressure and was, in fact, originally developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to do just that, therefore, the acronym (Champagne 2006; Savika et al, 2010). The DASH dietary pattern is rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds. It also contains less sodium; sugar; fats; and red meat than the usual western diet as described above. Designed with cardiovascular health in mind, the DASH diet is also lower in saturated and trans fatty acids and cholesterol and rich in nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and fiber that are helpful for lowering blood pressure. Research on the DASH dietary pattern has shown that it not only can lower blood pressure but also improve other risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as HDL cholesterol levels, triglycerides or blood sugar. Long-term studies of the DASH dietary pattern have beenMech Ageing Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 April 24.Willcox et al.Pageassociated with lower risk for hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and several types of cancer, among other chronic age associated diseases (Fung et al. 2010; Shirani et al. 2013; Salehi-Abargouei et al. 2013)Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptThe Portfolio DietAs briefly discussed earlier, in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of diet in reducing serum cholesterol, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) and the American Heart Association recently recommended the use of functional foods, or foods high in components that reduce cholesterol, as options in dietary strategies. With these recommendations in mind the Portfolio Diet was designed by University of Toronto researchers to test the effectiveness of this dietary approach against standard drug therapy (statins) in hypercholesterolemic participants (Jenkins et al, 2003, 2005). Plant foods are emphasized in this vegetarian dietary pattern rich in vegetables such as broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, okra. Whole grains.