If you are following a diet to lower blood pressure, you may expand your protein options to include lean, unprocessed pork, new research suggests.

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is recommended to reduce blood pressure and is focused on the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole-grains, low-fat dairy products, nuts, poultry and fish, while reducing fats, red meats, including pork, and added sugars.

"If people have to rely only on fish and chicken their diet choices can be limited and our results support that lean pork may be a viable option for people who are consuming a DASH diet without compromising the effectiveness of the diet plan," said co-author Drew Sayer, doctoral student in nutrition science at Purdue University in the US.

The study that appeared in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared lean, unprocessed pork with chicken and fish as the predominant protein source in a DASH-style diet.

The consumption of these DASH-style diets for six weeks reduced all measures of blood pressure with no differences in responses between DASH with chicken and fish and DASH with pork, the study found.

"This study supports that the DASH diet can include lean and unprocessed red meats in the appropriate serving sizes," Wayne Campbell, professor of nutrition science at Purdue University, said.