What role does dietary intervention play in high blood pressure orhypertension? Medical researchers at UC Davis plan to study 260 area residents with a family history of high blood pressure to see if dietary intervention works and how well. The four-year study is part of a nationwide research project aimed at preventing high blood pressure through specific dietary intervention, says investigator Dr. John A. Robbins, an associate professor of clinical internal medicine and chief of general medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine. "Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke and kidney diseases," Robbins says. "As many as one in four adults in the United States has high blood pressure. Studies show that blacks are at the greatest risk of becoming hypertensive." Participants, now being enrolled, will be assigned randomly to one of the following groups: weight-loss and exercise programs; low-salt diet; combined low-salt diet and weight-loss and exercise programs; and usual care.