I found a brochure that was about preventing and lowering the risk of hypertension called “DASH Into Health: Simple Tips to Keep You Healthy For Life.” DASH stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. Hypertension is another word for high blood pressure, and it can lead to many health problems such as cardiovascular disease. It is a common condition in which the force of your blood against the walls in your arteries increases, and if undetected can also lead to heart attacks or strokes.
The purpose of this brochure is to give a background about what Hypertension is and to also give tips about a lifestyle diet that can combat the disease. It includes tips, a section titled “What can DASH do for me?”, lists examples of DASH foods, and even includes a recipe. Providing sites for extra information on the back of the brochure is extremely helpful.
The brochure is very clean and eye-catching. The color concept goes well together, and it does not look too busy because the font is big and the spacing is adequate. Because the font is uniform throughout the brochure, it is easy to look at and your eyes do not skip around to different places because of different colors or crazy fonts.
I think this is a great brochure to give a very basic information basis about Hypertension to pique someone’s interest. I could definitely see it being used in a doctor’s office as a supplement for a client how has been or may soon be diagnosed with high blood pressure. However, I am not sure if I could see this brochure standing on its own. Although having big font and lots of spacing is good for appearance, it definitely limits the amount of information that can be included on the brochure. Brochures are meant to be educational, so I don’t think that someone who reads a brochure should have to go to another source to learn more about the basics. This brochure doesn’t even explain what hypertension is or how it is caused, so people won’t know if they should be following the listed preventative features unless they go to an external source to find out what it is.
The DASH diet itself is also somewhat unclear. Although some foods are listed, the brochure doesn’t explain why these specific foods are DASH foods and what they do to lower hypertension risk. It’s nice that potassium, calcium and magnesium are highlighted, but the brochure doesn’t say what they are and why we should eat foods that have them.
Overall, I thought this nutrition brochure is a good representation of a basic educational brochure format. It is something that would be great for quick key reminders to look at as a hypertension patient, but perhaps not someone who is learning about it for the first time. The look and the style are great, and the words are clear. The pictures added nice balance and I know exactly what the brochure will be about when looking at any of the pages.