Table 3.

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern scoring criteria.

Component	Foods	Scoring Quintiles (Q) *
Fruits	All fruits and fruit juices	Q1 = 1 point Q2 = 2 points Q3 = 3 points Q4 = 4 points Q5 = 5 points
Vegetables	All vegetables except potatoes and legumes
Nuts and legumes	Nuts and peanut butter, dried beans, peas, tofu
Whole-grains	Brown rice, dark breads, cooked cereal, whole-grain cereal, other grains, popcorn, wheat germ, bran
Low-fat dairy	Skim milk, yogurt, cottage cheese
Sodium	Sum of sodium content of all foods	Q1 = 5 points Q2 = 4 points Q3 = 3 points Q4 = 2 points Q5 = 1 point
Red and processed meats	Beef, pork, lamb, deli meats, organ meats, hot dogs, bacon
Added sugar	Foods and beverages with added sugars (i.e., sugar sweetened beverages)

* Q1 represents low consumption and Q5 represents high consumption.