Monday, May 14, 2007

Big Milk Backs Off the Weight Claims


(From the ad above)

"To keep the crowd on their feet, I keep my body in tune. With milk. Studies suggest that the nutrients in milk can play an important role in weight loss. So if you're trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, try drinking 24 ounces of low fat or fat free milk every 24 hours as part of your reduced calorie diet. To learn more visit 2424milk.com. It's a change that'll do you good."
Really?

In response to an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission in the States, Big Milk over there has reported that they will end their asinine campaigns linking dairy consumption with weight loss.

Lydia Parnes, the Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection reported that milk producers and processors had agreed to change the advertisements,
"until further research provides stronger, more conclusive evidence of an association between dairy consumption and weight loss."
What that might as well read is until someone other than Michael Zemel, a researcher for Big Milk whose specialty seems to be small underpowered studies with over-reaching conclusions, a researcher who believe it or not somehow managed to patent the claim that dairy consumption and weight loss were linked, actually puts together a paper that can refute the more than a dozen studies that show no link whatsoever.

[To read more about milk and dairy and Zemel, the CSPI put out a great piece you can read here.]

Score one for the good guys, but apparently this development doesn't apply to countries outside of the US or the internet because as of the typing of this post, 2424milk.com is still live and still promotes the consumption of almost 300 daily calories of milk to help with weight loss.