Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Ask a Nutritionist, our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition.

I'm Amy Kramm of registered dietitian, and today we're tackling a topic that is understandably confusing in the nutrition world,

dairy and heart health. Depending on who you ask, dairy can be seen as either a heart-healthy food

group or something you should avoid altogether. Milk, cheese, butter, are they hurting your cholesterol?

Are low-fat options always butter? And what about butter versus plant-based spreads and

margarins? If you've ever stared at the dairy case wondering, is this going to hurt or help my heart

health? You are not alone. And this episode is for you. So let's dig in. First, let's answer the

question. Are dairy products bad for the art? The short answer is no.

Dairy is not inherently bad for your heart. The longer, more helpful answer is that the type of

dairy and the context of your overall diet matter more than dairy itself. For years, dairy foods were

lumped into the bad for your heart category because they contain

saturated fat.

The newer research shows that dairy behaves differently in the body than we once thought.

Dairy is more than just fat.

It's a food matrix.

That means the fats, proteins, calcium, potassium, and bioactive compounds all work together. And in many studies, moderate dairy intake is neutral or even protective for heart disease risk.

It's also a good idea to choose organic dairy products as much as possible.

Organic standards require pasture-based feeding and grass-fed cows produce milk with a healthier fat profile.

So, instead of asking, is dairy bad, I think the better question is, which dairy products

support heart health and which ones don't? Before we pick apart dairy, I want to zoom out for a minute.

Because at nutritional weight and wellness, we don't blame one ingredient

for heart disease. We look at patterns. Heart disease risk is strongly tied to certain lab markers,

...