What Is a Serving of Dairy?

Dairy Products have various animal sources. The most familiar is the common dairy cow. However, goats and other animals, such as the yak, can provide sources of dairy. Milk is secreted from the mammary glands of dairy animals. There are dairy substitutes for those that are lactose intolerant or have other medical, religious or ethical reasons for not drinking dairy products. The FDA recommends dairy or dairy substitutes as part of their food pyramid for health.

What are Dairy Products?

Products derived from dairy vary widely and include milk, cream, cheese and yogurt. Dairy is included in the making and manufacturing of many products in the form of whey and milk solids that some might not suspect contain dairy, such as high energy sports beverages.

FDA Recommended Servings

The FDA recommends different amounts of dairy or dairy substitute depending upon age: Children 2 to 8 years old need two cups of dairy per day. Boys, girls, men and women from ages 9 to 51 years old need three cups.

A cup of milk can be derived by eating the following dairy products: 1 cup of fat-free or low-fat milk, 1 and 1/2 ounces of hard cheese (parmesan, mozzarella, Swiss), 1/3 cup of shredded cheese, 2 ounces processed American cheese or 2 cups cottage cheese or 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese.

Milk-based desserts or sugary milk products are to be eaten sparingly but include 1 cup of frozen yogurt or pudding or 1 1/2 cups of ice cream.

Dairy Provided Nutrients

According to the FDA, dairy products provide calcium; an important part of building bone and maintaining bone density throughout life. It is good for maintaining teeth. Part of the reason that dairy products are a good source of calcium is because they contain Vitamin D.

Vitamin D helps regulate calcium and phosphorous in the body. Potassium regulates blood pressure and is found most commonly in yogurt and milk. It is best to choose milk products that are low in fat and sugar thereby reducing the calories and low density lipoproteins (LDL) the part of cholesterol that is considered to collect on arterial walls increasing the risk of heart attack.

Dairy Substitutes

If an individual is unable to drink milk for health reasons there are options for getting the nutrients found in milk. Orange juice can provide calcium, bananas can provide potassium and soy products or wheat grass can provide protein.

Speculation on the Benefits of Dairy

There is some speculation as to the health benefits of dairy products. A typical theory is that all mammals are weaned at a certain age from their mother's milk and go on to eat a radically different diet depending on the mammal whether carnivorous or herbivore and therefore it is not natural for humans to consume dairy after the weaning stage.