TITLE:
Short-Term Blood Pressure Reduction Associated with a Vegetable-Rich, Low-Refined-Carbohydrate Dietary Pattern: A 60-Day Observational Case Series
AUTHORS:
Samuel Otis Pratt
KEYWORDS:
Hypertension, The Dietary Pattern, Repeated-Measures Case Series, Home Blood Pressure Monitoring, Cardiovascular Health, Lifestyle Modification
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.14 No.4,
April
30,
2026
ABSTRACT: Hypertension remains a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and dietary modification continues to represent an important non-pharmacological strategy for blood pressure control. The purpose of this 60-day repeated-measures observational case series was to examine whether adoption of “a vegetable-rich, low-refined-carbohydrate dietary pattern (hereafter referred to as ‘the dietary pattern’)” was associated with short-term changes in blood pressure in two adults with elevated baseline blood pressure. The first 30 days constituted a baseline phase during which participants maintained their usual dietary habits, and the subsequent 30 days constituted an intervention phase characterized by increased consumption of vegetables, legumes, berries, lean proteins, and healthy fats with reduced or no intake of carbohydrate-rich foods. Blood pressure was recorded twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, resulting in 120 readings per participant. Descriptive analysis of the datasets showed that Participant 1’s mean blood pressure declined from 147.5/88.6 mmHg during baseline to 126.5/78.55 mmHg during intervention, while Participant 2’s mean blood pressure declined from 150.5/90.4 mmHg to 129.0/80.1 mmHg. These phase-level changes corresponded to systolic reductions of 21.0 mmHg (14.24%) for P1 and 21.5 mmHg (14.29%) for P2. Although causal inference is not warranted in a two-participant observational design, the consistency of the repeated morning and evening reductions—observed alongside a structured pattern of light daily physical activity, including approximately 10 to 25 minutes of walking—provides preliminary, data-grounded evidence that a dietary pattern, in combination with modest lifestyle adjustments, may be associated with meaningful short-term improvement in blood pressure regulation. Importantly, the convergence of dietary modification and low-intensity physical activity reflects a more ecologically valid representation of real-world behavior change, where multiple health-promoting factors often co-occur rather than operate in isolation. While the present dataset does not permit disentangling the independent effects of walking from dietary change, the observed phase-level reductions across both participants suggest a coherent directional pattern that aligns with established evidence on the dietary pattern nutrition and lifestyle-based hypertension management. These findings therefore support the need for further controlled investigation to more precisely isolate and quantify the combined and independent effects of dietary and physical activity interventions on blood pressure outcomes.