How the meat and dairy industries design studies showing their products have neutral or even beneficial effects on cholesterol and inflammation.
How the Dairy Industry Designs Misleading Studies
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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Observational studies like these, suggesting dairy might not be so bad, can be confounded by extraneous factors, such as the fact that people who eat more cheese tend to be of higher socioeconomic class. Fine, but what about this interventional study? A randomized, crossover trial, which compared a high-fat cheese diet, to a high-fat meat diet, to a low-fat diet. A high-cheese diet: CHEESE, which is loaded with saturated fat; a high meat diet: MEAT, which is loaded with saturated fat; versus CARB, a low-fat diet. And, people ended up with the same cholesterol levels.
Let’s see how they did it. Half the study was paid for in part by the dairy industry, and the other half paid for by dairy, dairy, dairy, and dairy. If you’re the dairy industry, and you’re trying to design a study to show that a high-cheese diet doesn’t raise cholesterol, how would you go about doing that?
Anyone remember this video? It’s one of my favorites. The beef industry was in the same pickle as the cheese industry. Beef has saturated fat, which raises cholesterol, which raises the risk of dying from our #1 killer. What’s an industry to do? So, they designed a study where they added beef, and cholesterol went down.
How is that possible? Here’s the two diets. They added beef, and the cholesterol went down. They did this by cutting out so much dairy, poultry, pork, fish, and eggs that their overall saturated fat intake was cut in half. They cut saturated fat levels in half, and the cholesterol levels went down. Well, duh. They could have swapped in Twinkies and said snack cakes lower your cholesterol, or frosting or anything.
Okay, so now that you know the trick, let’s go back to this study. How are you going to get a high-fat cheese diet, and a high-fat meat diet to have anywhere near the same saturated fat level as a diet with neither, unless… Wait, don’t tell me. What, they added coconut oil or something to the other diet? They added so much coconut oil and cookies to the so-called low fat diet that they were able to sufficiently raise the level of saturated fat to cause a similar rise in cholesterol. That’s now you can make sure a cheese or meat-rich diet look like it doesn’t raise cholesterol.
That reminds me of the desperation evident in this study that compared the effects of dairy cheddar cheese to a nondairy cheddar cheese called Daiya. Milk consumption has plummeted in recent years as people have discovered plant-based alternatives like soy milk and almond milk. And now there’s plant-based cheese alternatives? What’s the National Dairy Council to do? How are you going to design a study that shows it’s healthier to eat cheese; design a study where cheese causes less inflammation than the vegan alternative. They got their work cut out for them. Daiya is no health food by any stretch, but definitely three times less saturated fat than cow cheese. So, I give up. How could you possibly show more inflammation from Daiya?
Well, there is one fat that may cause more inflammation than milk fat: palm oil. In fact, it may raise cholesterol levels as much as trans fat-laden partially hydrogenated oil. Yeah, but what are you telling me? They like slipped the Daiya group some extra palm oil on the side. Yes, can you believe it? They compared cheese to Daiya “plus palm oil”—so much extra palm oil that the vegan alternative meal ended up having the same amount of saturated fat as the cheese meal. That’s like proving tofu is worse than beef by doing a study where they compared a beef burger to a tofu patty…stuffed with lard. Oh, wait, the meat industry already did that, but at least they had the decency to concede that “Replacement of meat with tofu in the habitual diet would not usually be accompanied by the addition of butter and lard.”
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Guo J, Astrup A, Lovegrove JA, Gijsbers L, Givens DI, Soedamah-muthu SS. Milk and dairy consumption and risk of cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality: dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Eur J Epidemiol. 2017;32(4):269-287.
- Sanchez-villegas A, Martínez JA, Prättälä R, et al. A systematic review of socioeconomic differences in food habits in Europe: consumption of cheese and milk. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003;57(8):917-29.
- Thorning TK, Raziani F, Bendsen NT, Astrup A, Tholstrup T, Raben A. Diets with high-fat cheese, high-fat meat, or carbohydrate on cardiovascular risk markers in overweight postmenopausal women: a randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(3):573-81.
- Demmer E, Van loan MD, Rivera N, et al. Consumption of a high-fat meal containing cheese compared with a vegan alternative lowers postprandial C-reactive protein in overweight and obese individuals with metabolic abnormalities: a randomised controlled cross-over study. J Nutr Sci. 2016;5:e9.
- Vega-lópez S, Ausman LM, Jalbert SM, Erkkilä AT, Lichtenstein AH. Palm and partially hydrogenated soybean oils adversely alter lipoprotein profiles compared with soybean and canola oils in moderately hyperlipidemic subjects. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;84(1):54-62.
- Laugerette F, Furet JP, Debard C, et al. Oil composition of high-fat diet affects metabolic inflammation differently in connection with endotoxin receptors in mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2012;302(3):E374-86.
- Ashton E, Ball M. Effects of soy as tofu vs meat on lipoprotein concentrations. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2000;54(1):14-9.
- Roussell MA, Hill AM, Gaugler TL, et al. Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet study: effects on lipids, lipoproteins, and apolipoproteins. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;95(1):9-16.
- Simon M. Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods. http://wwweatdrinkpoliticscom. 2014.
Image credit: Edmund Garman via flickr. Image has been modified.
Motion graphics by Avocado Video
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Observational studies like these, suggesting dairy might not be so bad, can be confounded by extraneous factors, such as the fact that people who eat more cheese tend to be of higher socioeconomic class. Fine, but what about this interventional study? A randomized, crossover trial, which compared a high-fat cheese diet, to a high-fat meat diet, to a low-fat diet. A high-cheese diet: CHEESE, which is loaded with saturated fat; a high meat diet: MEAT, which is loaded with saturated fat; versus CARB, a low-fat diet. And, people ended up with the same cholesterol levels.
Let’s see how they did it. Half the study was paid for in part by the dairy industry, and the other half paid for by dairy, dairy, dairy, and dairy. If you’re the dairy industry, and you’re trying to design a study to show that a high-cheese diet doesn’t raise cholesterol, how would you go about doing that?
Anyone remember this video? It’s one of my favorites. The beef industry was in the same pickle as the cheese industry. Beef has saturated fat, which raises cholesterol, which raises the risk of dying from our #1 killer. What’s an industry to do? So, they designed a study where they added beef, and cholesterol went down.
How is that possible? Here’s the two diets. They added beef, and the cholesterol went down. They did this by cutting out so much dairy, poultry, pork, fish, and eggs that their overall saturated fat intake was cut in half. They cut saturated fat levels in half, and the cholesterol levels went down. Well, duh. They could have swapped in Twinkies and said snack cakes lower your cholesterol, or frosting or anything.
Okay, so now that you know the trick, let’s go back to this study. How are you going to get a high-fat cheese diet, and a high-fat meat diet to have anywhere near the same saturated fat level as a diet with neither, unless… Wait, don’t tell me. What, they added coconut oil or something to the other diet? They added so much coconut oil and cookies to the so-called low fat diet that they were able to sufficiently raise the level of saturated fat to cause a similar rise in cholesterol. That’s now you can make sure a cheese or meat-rich diet look like it doesn’t raise cholesterol.
That reminds me of the desperation evident in this study that compared the effects of dairy cheddar cheese to a nondairy cheddar cheese called Daiya. Milk consumption has plummeted in recent years as people have discovered plant-based alternatives like soy milk and almond milk. And now there’s plant-based cheese alternatives? What’s the National Dairy Council to do? How are you going to design a study that shows it’s healthier to eat cheese; design a study where cheese causes less inflammation than the vegan alternative. They got their work cut out for them. Daiya is no health food by any stretch, but definitely three times less saturated fat than cow cheese. So, I give up. How could you possibly show more inflammation from Daiya?
Well, there is one fat that may cause more inflammation than milk fat: palm oil. In fact, it may raise cholesterol levels as much as trans fat-laden partially hydrogenated oil. Yeah, but what are you telling me? They like slipped the Daiya group some extra palm oil on the side. Yes, can you believe it? They compared cheese to Daiya “plus palm oil”—so much extra palm oil that the vegan alternative meal ended up having the same amount of saturated fat as the cheese meal. That’s like proving tofu is worse than beef by doing a study where they compared a beef burger to a tofu patty…stuffed with lard. Oh, wait, the meat industry already did that, but at least they had the decency to concede that “Replacement of meat with tofu in the habitual diet would not usually be accompanied by the addition of butter and lard.”
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Guo J, Astrup A, Lovegrove JA, Gijsbers L, Givens DI, Soedamah-muthu SS. Milk and dairy consumption and risk of cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality: dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Eur J Epidemiol. 2017;32(4):269-287.
- Sanchez-villegas A, Martínez JA, Prättälä R, et al. A systematic review of socioeconomic differences in food habits in Europe: consumption of cheese and milk. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003;57(8):917-29.
- Thorning TK, Raziani F, Bendsen NT, Astrup A, Tholstrup T, Raben A. Diets with high-fat cheese, high-fat meat, or carbohydrate on cardiovascular risk markers in overweight postmenopausal women: a randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(3):573-81.
- Demmer E, Van loan MD, Rivera N, et al. Consumption of a high-fat meal containing cheese compared with a vegan alternative lowers postprandial C-reactive protein in overweight and obese individuals with metabolic abnormalities: a randomised controlled cross-over study. J Nutr Sci. 2016;5:e9.
- Vega-lópez S, Ausman LM, Jalbert SM, Erkkilä AT, Lichtenstein AH. Palm and partially hydrogenated soybean oils adversely alter lipoprotein profiles compared with soybean and canola oils in moderately hyperlipidemic subjects. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;84(1):54-62.
- Laugerette F, Furet JP, Debard C, et al. Oil composition of high-fat diet affects metabolic inflammation differently in connection with endotoxin receptors in mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2012;302(3):E374-86.
- Ashton E, Ball M. Effects of soy as tofu vs meat on lipoprotein concentrations. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2000;54(1):14-9.
- Roussell MA, Hill AM, Gaugler TL, et al. Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet study: effects on lipids, lipoproteins, and apolipoproteins. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;95(1):9-16.
- Simon M. Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods. http://wwweatdrinkpoliticscom. 2014.
Image credit: Edmund Garman via flickr. Image has been modified.
Motion graphics by Avocado Video
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How the Dairy Industry Designs Misleading Studies
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Content URLDoctor's Note
Hat tip to Anna Borek @ScepticalDoctor for pointing out my mistake in the previous version of this video, confusing percentage of fat that was saturated with the percentage of calories from saturated fat. Though it doesn’t change the conclusions, I rerecorded the video to correct it. Thank you, Dr. Borek!
Here’s that beef video that always leaves me shaking my head in disbelief: BOLD Indeed: Beef Lowers Cholesterol?
This is the final video in a three-part series. If you missed the other two, check out Is Cheese Really Bad for You? and Is Cheese Healthy? Compared to What?
The egg industry tried pulling similar shenanigans. See, for example: Egg Industry Response to Choline & TMAO and Eggs & Arterial Function.
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