Ice cream, butter, milkshakes, and cheese: these are some of the many delectable treats made with dairy. Each food is an edible staple of culture recognized by American and European populations. Unfortunately, these options are not healthy parts of a daily diet and certainly don’t add up to the “balanced diet” people are promised if they follow the food pyramid which has recommended anywhere from one to four servings of dairy through its evolution. This is because a large percentage of the world’s human inhabitants are actually lactose intolerant, meaning that upon consuming milk and milk derived products, these people will suffer painful symptoms such as stomach cramps, diarrhea, indigestion, and nausea. The industry has seen demand deplete in the past due to intolerance and distaste for the product but they refuse to lose relevancy and profit. They ensure this won’t happen by putting a hefty amount of money into the quality and quantity of their advertisements as well as seeking endorsements from many influential brands and figures. Though dairy is unnecessary and even harmful, it continues to remain a part of modern culture and diets due to the government’s lack of regulations regarding the industry’s input into dietary suggestions. Dairy also continues to persist as a classic food staple because of clever advertising that hides milk alternatives and failing efforts at educating the population on dairy’s origin and effects.

Dairy was a growing industry in industrialized societies from the early to mid twentieth century. Demand was never constant, always fluctuating, until the corporations figured out a way to keep supply and demand in high numbers. “One of the biggest problems facing milk producers in England after World War I was their dependence on the fluid markets of the large cities. This dependence immediately translated into powerlessness. ‘They [dairy farmers] are helpless now. They have no way of getting rid of their milk if these people [wholesalers] say they will not pay more. That is really the trouble’.” Roy Barnes, writer of The Rise of Corporatist Regulation in the English and Canadian Dairy Industries, states. Dairy was portrayed to the public as a necessary component of a healthy diet, when in fact, the only people dairy was necessary to were Northern European migrants nearly 9,000 years prior to World War 1.

When no vegetation grew due to frigid climates, the only way to thrive without overusing resources was to consume and manufacture foods from the milk of the few living animals. These Northern Europeans evolved to produce lactase, an enzyme that digests lactose seen in infants, past their toddler years so they could digest the milk and receive some nutrients from it. This is why the least amount of lactose intolerance is observed in those of European descent and all other ethnicities are observed to have extremely high rates of intolerance to the product (Scheindlin). 25% of Caucasians are intolerant while 70-90% of Chinese, Japanese, Ashkenazim Jews, and Mediterraneans are lactose intolerant (Fleming). Since Dairy was only beneficial to the human diet out of necessity, in modern times it is unnecessary and even harmful. In an article for The American Journal of Nursing, France Rosenberg expands upon dairy’s harms. “Lactose Intolerance, the inability to digest and absorb lactose, occurs naturally in a large percentage of the adult world population… For an adult eating a well-balanced diet, no supplement to the lactose-free diet is necessary” (Rosenberg). However, after the war, it was realized how big of a cash cow mass produced milk products were. With proper advertisement and government regulations regarding dairy, an extremely large amount of money was to be made and the industry began on their sophomoric attempts at paying off the government and cramming their ads into every nook and cranny of the modern world.

The dairy industry’s control over the government began innocently in early twentieth century London, “The fluid trade in England's largest cities… had to be increased. The government allowed the formation of the United Dairies Limited in 1915 through the merger of the five dominant milk wholesalers in London. The following year, the government approved further growth of the United Dairies Limited when the combine wished to purchase shares in the city's distribution businesses.” Ted Barnes discusses in his work, “The Rise of Corporatist Regulation in the English and Canadian Dairy Industries”. In a 2002 study conducted by Marion Nestle, many dairy representatives were a part of the advisory committee dedicated to developing the 2000 American Dietary Guidelines. They blatantly opposed thoughts to include dairy alternatives in the guidelines as sources of the same nutrients provided by dairy consumption (Wiley). In the case of lactose intolerance, the USDA suggests seeking a professional opinion before coming to a self-diagnosed conclusion. If the person concerned finds that they are in fact intolerant to lactose, “he or she must not conclude that they should avoid dairy products, but, rather find creative ways to include dairy products in the diet.” (Wiley) The NDC has even put effort into promoting the notion that even those who suffer painful symptoms from consuming dairy, are at risk of missing key nutrients in their diets due to avoiding dairy products. (Wiley) This is simply untrue, as Benjamin Scheindlin goes so far as to state “A glance around the world reveals that lactose intolerance is the rule, rather than the exception, raising the possibility that is not a disease but the natural human state.” in his, "Lactose Intolerance and Evolution: No Use Crying Over Undigested Milk."

Andrea Wiley discusses why modern culture allows for such large quantities of milk to be involved in the food industry even though many are harmed from consuming dairy. “Despite widespread acknowledgment that a that a substantial minority of people in the United States-- and the majority of the world-- are lactase impersistent as adults.”(86) It is further inferred that this is because the government supports the dairy industry and the industry itself ensures it’s advertisements place “Strong cultural value on cow’s milk”. (86) Though it seems that milk alternatives would be the healthiest option for the human body to thrive on, the industry continues to support and express the idea that milk alternatives may contain the same nutrients, but are somehow less bioavailable, making them obsolete. These are just a few examples of the dairy industry’s influence over federal mandated health regulations regarding the animal derived fluid.

Once the dairy industry established their empire through faulty dietary regulations, they began to work toward a more direct message to the public and uncovered a completely new way of marketing. In his text Barnes elaborates on the beginnings of the desperate marketing hysteria plaguing the growing industry. “After the war… the powerful milk wholesaler controlled the flow of milk literally from the farm to the consumer's doorstep… Producers' price cutting to maintain an outlet for their milk became uncontrollable in the early 1920s. London's milk combine eagerly took advantage of the situation by encouraging these producer price wars” (Barnes). Modern ad campaigns run by the dairy industry include commercials, paper ads, and partnership with famous singers, actors, politicians, and even politicians. In their text, “Optimal Choice of Generic Milk Advertising Expenditures by Media Outlet”, James Pritchett, Donald Liu, and Harry Kaiser discuss this, “200 million checkoff dollars are distributed annually among promotion activities which include investments in nutrition research, consumer education, new product development, and generic advertising.” These ads are littered with catchy phrases like “Milk, it does a body good”, “Real Milk”, “3-A-Day” diets promoting three glasses of milk to lose weight, “Milk Life”.

The most notable slogan being the two words said by an attractive celebrity with a thick white line caressing their upper lip, “Got Milk?” One Green Planet, a popular blog promoting the vegan lifestyle presents these five slogans as the most deceptive campaigns. Cowspiracy, a documentary produced by vegan activist Leonardo Dicaprio, explores the deceit in the meat and dairy industry’s presentations. One of the people interviewed is Dr. Michael Clapper and when asked about the “Milk, it does a body good” campaigns he states, “The purpose of cow’s milk is to turn a 65-pound calf into a 700-pound cow as rapidly as possible. Cow’s milk IS baby calf growth fluid… great stuff if you’re a baby calf, but if you are a human trying to create a lean, healthy body, it will NOT ‘do a body good.’” Each of these campaigns have been extremely successful in increasing dairy sales and ultimately dairy consumption. This is extremely harmful not only for the bodies consuming the fatty animal product: but also, to the environment as the meat and dairy industry use one third of Earth’s fresh water and livestock covers 45% of Earth’s land (Cowspiracy). Not to mention the amount of harm and death brought to the innocent animals simply for a cheese craving that can easily be met with a dairy alternative.

Furthermore, it seems that milk is the only food advertised with the promise of major calcium nutrients. Yes, human bodies need calcium and yes, cow’s milk does contain it, but due to milk pasteurization and production this calcium comes in very small quantities for those who aren’t lactose intolerant, and can cause calcium deficiency in those who are. Alisa Fleming who frequently writes for GoDairyFree.Com suffered with Chrohn’s disease and was recommended surgery and medications before being told to give up dairy, which ultimately was the simplest suggestion and only thing that relieved her symptoms. She discusses this proposed calcium, “When a person is unable to digest lactose, meaning they are deficient in the enzyme lactase, the lactose begins to ferment in the body and creates lactic acid. This is then absorbed into the bloodstream and binds with calcium and magnesium, thus making these minerals unavailable to the tissues that need them.”

Due to the dairy industry’s involvement with politics, the always growing industry has become a controlling figurehead in modern society. Faulty regulations and empty marketing campaigns are crowded into citizens daily routines. The manipulating tactics can be seen on posters, commercials, magazines, and are even hidden within children’s education. If people begin to pay more attention to how their body feels without dairy, it would be quickly realized that it is not a healthy choice and is usually the route of the health problem. For people to come to this realization they need to be properly educated. This will be possible once governments begin to take back the reigns and regulate dairy for what it truly is, not what it’s shiny campaigns promise it to be. The truth needs to be what’s advertised for the sake of health, not a pretty actress with a creamy white mustache resting above her lips.