As demand for cow's milk has declined, the dairy industry has stepped up efforts to trick consumers into buying more dairy products. One way they have done this is to market whey -- a by-product of cheese making -- as if it were a desirable health food.
Nothing could be further from the truth! Historically a "poverty food" that farm families would eat themselves because there were no buyers, whey became a common filler -- a cheap ingredient used to bulk up processed foods -- when industrial cheese producers needed a way to dispose of it all.
The European Food Safety Authority has debunked the health claims made for whey. Still, the whey protein supplement industry rakes in billions by marketing a waste product as a health food.
In some ways, this is not a surprise. The whole dairy industry is based on deception, starting with the notion that it is in any way natural for any animal to consume the milk of another animal. Every mammal's milk is perfectly suited for her own offspring. And of course, all of those advertisements about happy cows cover up the deep and long-lasting sorrow that mother cows experience when their calves are taken from them so that humans can take their milk instead.
So, watch out for whey in the ingredients of mass-produced food, and if a friend or family member has been tricked into buying whey protein powder or power bars, tell them: "No whey!"
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