Week: 618.5

Guest: Greg Miller, PhD. Nutrition/Toxicology, Vice President, Nutrition Research, National Dairy Council

Topic: Dairy foods and the DASH diet for hypertension

Host/Producer: Steve Girard

NEMA: In our battle against fat...we've gotten the idea that dairy foods don't fit in. But the DASH diet of whole grains, plenty of vegetables and fruit, and low fat dairy products dramatically lowers blood pressure. Dr. Greg Miller of the National Dairy Council says avoiding milk hurts kids...

MILLER: It's really, as a nutritionist...it's something that really concerns me. This trend toward decreased consumption of fluid milk and some other dairy products because we're seeing that young kids, particularly after age 11, really drop off in their consumption, and that's when they're being tempted by all these other competitive beverages, if you will, such as sodas and fruits juices and drinks that are just sugar water. They're moving to those, and leaving milk behind...and We're not certain of all the reasons, but It's something that a lot of nutritionists throughout the U.S. right now are really concerned about.

NEMA: You can take all the fat, or nearly all the fat out of milk...and though it has some sugar in it, there are many other nutrients....

MILLER: With milk, you get not only calcium...but you get at least 8 other essential nutrients that are delivered by milk. In fact, the National Institutes of Health have started a new campaign called Milk matters, to try and increase consumption of milk and dairy foods throughout the U.S.

NEMA: You get calcium, and at least 8 other essential nutrients in milk. Can't say that about most other drinks. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.