Have you heard influencers or local news stations talk about dairy’s health benefits and mention research supporting it? Just because an influencer brings up research, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true or explained in the correct context.
While we love evidence at Switch4Good, we still have to proceed with caution and dig into the claims and research studies a little bit further. When it comes to studies around dairy and its effects on human health, many of them are deeply flawed. Let’s unpack why, and what this means for your nutrition decisions.
What is dairy being compared to?
Everyone has heard some variation of not comparing apples to oranges. It’s simply not a fair comparison in most situations because they are inherently different. The dairy industry is guilty of breaking this rule in many different ways by comparing dairy to something that doesn’t really make sense. Let’s unpack two common comparators that we see in the literature:
- Water – We often discuss this with chocolate milk studies. To recap, the dairy industry likes to tout chocolate milk as being great for athletes due to its recovery benefits. However, if you dig into the studies, they are comparing chocolate milk to water (as seen in cyclists, climbers, and fighters). It’s a basic principle of sports nutrition that our bodies need protein and carbohydrates to repair, so nearly anything is going to be more effective than just having water. This is fundamental to sports nutrition and not novel to chocolate milk or dairy products.
- Sugar – A recent systematic review and meta-analysis found whey protein to be beneficial for cardiometabolic health, but many of the studies compared whey protein to maltodextrin (a complex carb version of sugar, and something a lot of influencers will tell you to fear). Why compare protein to sugar, and then say whey protein specifically is better? These results don’t make dairy appear any better than other protein-rich options. What about soy protein or pea protein? If you dig in a bit deeper, other studies have found no differences, yet the dairy industry isn’t talking about those. Instead, they want to focus on their product being better than anything else to drive sales and keep you coming back for more. We’ve seen this with athlete studies as well, where chocolate milk is compared to a carbohydrate-rich product (like Gatorade) for soccer and strength training. Again, these macronutrients do not match up and are not a fair comparison. A much more fair comparison would be a chocolate dairy milk to a chocolate soy milk, and one study found no significant difference between chocolate dairy milk when compared to chocolate soy or chocolate hemp milks.
Who funded the research?
This is a trickier one to dig into. Research studies are often very expensive, and food companies have a lot more money than government agencies or universities that are carrying out the studies. In many cases, they may be the only available funder to make the research happen. A research study funded by a certain industry is not inherently flawed or biased. However, we need to look at the research question, as sometimes studies are designed to essentially produce a certain outcome.
To try to help you understand this with a different context, imagine this: Toyota wants to test whether its cars can get you from point A to point B the fastest. But their study compared you driving a Corolla to you walking. Of course the car is going to be faster! All of the headlines are then going to say something like “New study shows Toyotas are the fastest!” This doesn’t feel fair, does it? Why wouldn’t they instead test a Toyota car against a Subaru or a Nissan? Well, that might not produce results that they can brag about to potential customers. Or even worse, they might have already had that race, Subaru won it, and now Toyota isn’t telling anybody because they don’t want that information getting out. While not publishing results like this is frowned upon and even forbidden in some instances, it can still happen. Bringing it back to the dairy industry, they may purposely pay for studies that compare something like chocolate milk to water because they know they will have a favorable outcome.
The dairy industry has a lot of money, and when they can talk about evidence-backed benefits, it increases sales which results in them having even more money to conduct research studies and continue this cycle. Rather than assuming they are all good or all bad, we need to look at them with a more critical lens, especially at the research question and what dairy is being compared to, before deciding if it’s worth listening to.
Who is sharing the information?
People are sharing information everywhere. It feels impossible to open Instagram and not see somebody talking about “studies” and how they are basing a new health habit on them. Do you have a friend who is always saying something like “I heard eating a banana before bed can make you sleep 8 minutes longer!” You later find out they saw it on a wellness grifter’s TikTok, from someone who only tested this on themself, and it was actually 4 minutes not 8. There are a few issues here. First, the influencer was not a reliable source of health information. That doesn’t mean bananas don’t help them sleep, but it also shouldn’t be translated to everyone without more research. Second, your friend misremembered the information. This is understandable, especially considering how constantly inundated with information we are, but they shouldn’t be sharing it like gospel. The internet now is effectively a constant game of telephone, and it can be hard to figure out who to trust. Even if your friend heard an evidence-based health stat from a reliable source, they can still misremember it and accidentally pass that misinformation on to others.
How can you tell if someone on the internet is trustworthy? A good starting point is to look for someone with credentials. Are they a doctor, dietitian, nurse, researcher, or other healthcare speciality with formal training? Another quick and effective tip: if someone is purposely using big words, they probably don’t know what they are talking about, they are just trying to sound smarter than you. True science communications is about simplifying the information so you can understand it, not scaring you into following them or buying their product.
Conclusion
We are inundated with bold nutrition claims, such as dairy products being superior to everything else. As we’ve explored, there is far more nuance that is ignored (which is true of most nutrition topics). From unfair comparisons, to flawed study designs, to industry funding influences, many of the “evidence-based” messages surrounding dairy do not reflect fair or meaningful conclusions. Understanding what dairy is being compared to, who funded the research, and how the information is communicated is essential for interpreting these claims accurately. Ultimately, making informed nutrition decisions requires more than taking headlines or influencer soundbites at face value. Before applying something you learned on Instagram to your lifestyle, ask yourself questions about who the information is coming from and why they are sharing it. If there is any kind of financial incentive to them, it’s probably worth seeking another opinion. You might still feel confused about what your body needs to thrive, and that’s okay! Rather than going down an internet rabbit hole, we always suggest working with a registered dietitian or qualified healthcare professional to determine what works best for your unique needs.
