Using data from the ever-mineable National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found that, among adults with high blood pressure, only 27.3% had it under control in the 1988-94 study period. But that number had risen to 50.1% by the 2007-08 study period.

Way to go, hypertensives!

That’s not to say that rates of hypertension are falling. Rates rose from 23.9% of adults in the 1988-94 study period to 28.5% in 1999 and 2000. But, hey, then they held fairly steady through 2007 and 2008. That’s … something.

Way to go, people who could’ve become hypertensive and didn’t!

The researchers note that the improvements are not, repeat not, because people are exercising and eating right. Ha. They write:

“Healthy lifestyles are an unlikely explanation for lower [blood pressure] and better control among patients with hypertension, because eating patterns became less “DASH-like” and obesity increased over time.”

Think, instead, ”blood pressure medication.”

The improvements in the overall blood pressure picture can be traced in no small part to increased awareness and treatment, the researchers conclude. Some groups need more assistance in getting the awareness message; others need more help in getting the treatment message:

“Data suggest that initiatives to improve [blood pressure] control among Hispanic individuals should emphasize screening and referral to a primary care medical home, whereas more emphasis on treatment effectiveness is needed for black individuals.”

The report offers much data — by ethnicity, age, gender … and you can peruse it all. Here’s the full blood-pressure study, published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Oh, and here’s more information on the aforementioned DASH diet; a guide from Mayo Clinic on choosing blood pressure medication; and our recent, helpful-if-I-do-say-so-myself advice on controlling blood pressure.

Researchers pooled the results of 25 clinical trials that involved 583 participants over all. The study reported that eating just 2.4 ounces of nuts of any kind was associated with declines of 10.2 milligrams per deciliter in bad cholesterol, a drop of about 7.4 percent, and 10.9 milligrams in total cholesterol, or 5.1 percent.

The study, which appeared in the May 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, was partly financed by a nut-industry foundation, and two of the authors receive research money from other organizations representing the nut and peanut industries.

But the authors noted that some of the trials they analyzed had no corporate financing, yet came to similar conclusions.

“Nuts are rich in unsaturated fats, and that is a main driver in lowering cholesterol,” said the lead author, Dr. Joan Sabaté, a professor of nutrition at the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University in California. “They are the richest source of protein in the plant kingdom, and they also contain fiber and phytosterols, which compete with cholesterol to be absorbed. All these nutrients have been demonstrated to lower cholesterol.”

The effect was most pronounced among people with higher LDL cholesterol to begin with and among those who were not obese. The more nuts they ate, the greater the effect

An obviously suspicious Abby Graham scrunched up her face, sliding one between her teeth. The 5-year-old chewed slowly, then grinned.

“It’s okay,” she said, reaching for another.

Chalk up another win for the garbanzo bean.

Such unconventional menu items at the Waterford Village Elementary School drew a visit today by Audrey Rowe, deputy administrator for U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Special Nutrition Programs.

Rowe came to push the Obama administration’s efforts at a $10 billion bill that would boost the Child Nutrition Act, increasing the number of kids who receive meals, upgrading school kitchen equipment, training school staff, and helping schools add fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat and fat free dairy products to their menus.

At Waterford, they’ve begun those efforts, in part, by a $15,000 grant from Hidden Valley, which produces dressing. Now basil and tomato plants are commonplace in Waterford’s hallways, and four student-grown vegetable gardens supplement the cafeteria menu.

Already, the results are surprising, said Principal Steve Garrison.

Students have been introduced to foods they might not otherwise see — kohlrabi and arugula, for example. And the veggie pizza? “A huge, huge hit,” Garrison said.

In heels and suits, Rowe and other Department of Agriculture staff squished through the muddy schoolyard to look at the sprout-filled gardens, and dropped by the cafeteria, where they chatted with students over whole-wheat pasta and a salad with garbanzo beans.

“Your school rocks,” Rowe told a table of fourth- and fifth-graders before breaking into jumping jacks with them.

Visits like these, she said later, underscore the importance of expanding and reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act. Congressional hearings feature nutrition experts and statistics, but only in a school cafeteria can you see that boosting nutrition may not be as difficult as it sounds, she said.

“It takes hold and becomes part of the school’s health DNA,” she said.