Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets and breast cancer among women: a case control study

BMC Cancer

Table 1 Standards for maximum scores on 4 DASH diet indexes

Standards for maximum score
	Dixon’s DASH index In women^a Sex-specific (women)	Mellen’s DASH index^b	Fung’s DASH index^c Sex-specific (women)	Günther’s DASH index^d,e, Based on age, sex and activity
Dietary components for which greater intakes receive higher score
Total fruit	≥4 servings/d^f		Fifth quintile	≥4 servings/d^f
Total vegetables	≥3 servings/d^f,g			≥4 servings/d^f
Vegetables without potatoes			Fifth quintile
Total grains				≥6 servings/d^f
Whole grains	≥4 servings/d^f,g		Fifth quintile
High-fiber grains				≥50% of total grain servings/d^f,h
Total dairy products	≥2 servings/d^f			≥2 servings/d⁶
Low-fat dairy products			Fifth quintile	≥75% of total dairy servings/d^f,h
Nuts, seeds, legumes	≥3 servings/d^f		Fifth quintile	≥4 servings/wk^f
Protein		≥18% of total daily kcal
Fiber		≥14.8 g/1000 kcal per day
Magnesium		≥238 mg/1000 kcal per day
Calcium		≥590 mg/1000 kcal per day
Potassium		≥2238 mg/1000 kcal per day
Dietary components for which lower intakes receive higher scores
Meat/meat equivalents	< 6 oz. (170 g)/d^f
Meat, poultry, fish, eggs				≤2 servings/d^f
Red and processed meat			First quintile
Sugar-sweetened beverages			First quintile
Sweets				≤5 servings/wk^f
Fats, oils				≤3 servings/d^f
Added sugar	≤3% of total daily kcal
Total fat		27% of total daily kcal
Saturated fat	≤5% of total daily kcal	≤6% of total daily kcal
Cholesterol		≤71.4 mg/1000 kcal per day
Sodium		≤1143 mg/1000 kcal per day	1st quintile
Total score (points)	0–8	0–9	8–40	0–80

^aSubjects receive 0 points for not meeting and 1 points for meeting the recommendation
^bSubjects receive 1 points for meeting a target, 0.5 points for meeting an intermediate target, and 0 points for meeting neither target
^cFor recommended components, the highest quintile receives 5 points, and the lowest quintile receives 1 point; for components for which lower intakes are desirable, the lowest quintile of intake receives 5 points and the highest quintile of intake receives 1 point
^dStandards are based on recommendations for a 2000 cal diet; different standards are available for 3 other energy intakes (1600, 2300, and 3100 kcal) according to sex, age and levels of physical activity
^eComponents are scored from 0 to 10, except for total dairy, low-fat dairy, whole grains, and high-fiber grains which are scored from 0 to 5
^fValues are based on the Pyramid Servings database
^gA total of 4 servings were based on the Dietary Guidelines recommendation for most grains to be whole, that Dixon et al. defined as 67% [11]
^hIf servings of total grains or total dairy were 0, components of high-fiber grains or low-fat dairy products would receive 0 points

ISSN: 1471-2407