Yogurt has a pretty good rep as a healthy food. Now comes some evidence that there is one area where it’s extra special.

That is, controlling your blood pressure.

A new study from the American Heart Association looked at more than 2,000 people and finds that those who ate a cup of yogurt once every three days had lower blood pressure than those who did eat any yogurt.

The researchers did take into account other factors such as weight, diet, exercise, and smoking.

The thinking is that the potassium and magnesium in yogurt help your blood vessels to relax and open up. Potassium in yogurt helps get rid of sodium and other chemicals that tighten vessels.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen yogurt and other dairy products help control BP – in fact other research which looks at low fat, high dairy products eaten regularly can drop blood pressure by up to 10 points within 2 weeks.

Not bad, as long as you remember not to use potato chips to scoop your yogurt out of the cup.

By the way, the brand of yogurt didn’t matter — just go low fat.