Journey to a Healthier Heart Week 4: Dairy Power

Welcome to Week 4 of the Journey to a Healthier Heart provided by Penn State Extension. This program is based on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Eating Plan and is designed to help improve heart health. This week will focus on dairy products with recommendations on how much to eat, health benefits, and tips for adding more dairy power to your day!

DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Recommended Daily Amount:

2-3 servings of fat-free or low-fat dairy products per day  

 Serving Size Examples:  

• 8 ounces milk
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1½ ounces cheese 

What Foods are in the Dairy Group?

The dairy group includes milk and buttermilk, cheese, regular and frozen yogurt, and fortified soy beverages and yogurt, as well as lactose-free products. The DASH eating plan recommends choosing the fat-free, low-fat, or reduced-fat versions of dairy products.

Dairy Products and Heart Health

Many dairy products, including whole milk and cheese, can be high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which can have negative health implications. Consuming too much saturated fat does not fit into a heart-healthy diet. Instead, choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products as heart-healthy options.

Why is the Dairy Group Important? 

Foods in the dairy group provide nutrients essential to your body's health and maintenance. Dairy products provide potassium, calcium, vitamin D, and protein. Potassium is a nutrient that can help to maintain healthy blood pressure, which is the key goal of the DASH Eating Plan.

Tips for Choosing Dairy Products

Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy options, including: 

• Skim (fat-free) milk  
• Low-fat (1%) milk  
• Low-fat buttermilk 
• Low-fat and fat-free cheeses 
• Low-fat or fat-free yogurt (regular, Greek, or frozen) 

Did you know?

Whether you choose nonfat, low-fat, reduced-fat, or whole milk, you'll still get important nutrients like protein, calcium, and vitamin D. The biggest differences are the amount of fat and calories in each type.

Weekly Dairy Goal

To get started, write down a dairy goal to work on this week, using the example below as a guide.

Example Goal: This week, instead of buying whole milk, I will buy 2 percent milk. 

In addition to skim or nonfat, low-fat, reduced-fat, whole milk, and lactose-free cow’s milk, there is a growing list of plant-based beverages, including soy, almond, coconut, rice, oat, and hemp options. However, fortified soy beverage is the only option that contains a comparable amount of calcium, protein, and other nutrients as dairy milk. Soy-based beverages are the closest substitutes for cow’s milk since the others do not contain adequate nutrients to replace cow’s milk as a dairy choice.

Learn More:

Dairy Products: Milk, Yogurt and Cheese | American Heart Association

What’s In Your Glass? A Guide to Milk and Plant-Based Alternatives - Cooperative Extension: Food & Health - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Selecting Cheese for Health

Recipe of the Week: Blueberries and Cream Smoothie

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2025).  DASH eating plan. National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.