Recommended Amount Of Dairy Per Day

When you're trying to maintain a healthy diet, dairy products, including milk, cheese and yogurt, play an important role. Packed with calcium and potassium, and in some cases, fortified with vitamin D, dairy products help keep your bones strong. Some evidence also suggests that milk products reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. To reap these benefits, though, you need to eat enough dairy products.

Recommendations

The National Academy of Sciences recommends that adults ages 19 to 50 get at least 1000 milligrams of calcium per day, and adults over age 50 get 1,200 milligrams. To reach that goal, the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests that most adults and children ages 9 to 18 should have at least three servings of low-fat or fat-free milk or other diary products each day. Children ages 4 to 8 should have 2.5 servings; and children ages 2 and 3 should have two servings of milk each day. A serving equals one cup of fluid milk or yogurt, or two ounces of cheese in most cases.

Foods

While most Americans get the majority of their dairy intake for the day through cheese, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, cheese often includes excess fat, cholesterol and sodium. Instead, the Dietary Guidelines recommend that dairy consumption be primarily in the form of fluid milk or low-fat yogurt. Drinking fat-free or skim milk, instead of whole, two or one percent milk or eating cheese, sour cream or other high-fat dairy products, increases your intake of calcium, potassium, and vitamins A and D without the excess fat, cholesterol and sodium. When you do eat cheese or other dairy besides milk, choose low or no-fat versions as part of an overall healthy diet.

Alternatives

Some people are unable to eat dairy products, due to a condition such as lactose intolerance, or a choice such as vegetarianism. Choose low-lactose or lactose-free dairy products to get enough dairy without the health problems. If you do not eat animal products, soy products fortified with vitamins A and D count as dairy. Fortified soy products have similar nutrition to dairy products, and will provide you with the same benefits of milk and dairy products.

High Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure, eating three servings of low-fat dairy products each day, combined with 8 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables, can significantly lower your blood pressure and reduce your need for medication. A 1997 study at Johns Hopkins University of the DASH, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, diet found that a diet rich in produce and combined with low-fat dairy more effectively reduced blood pressure than a similar diet without dairy.