Cow’s milk is not suitable to ‘real recovery’ (Photo: Adobe. Do not use without permission)
Advertising giant MilkPEP has received a federal complaint over its claims about dairy.
Plant-based charity Switch4Good filed the complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – describing several statements about milk being ‘an exercise recovery drink for all American’s’ as ‘misleading’.
The complaint requests MilkPEP retract and correct its claim that ‘drinking fat-free milk after exercise replenishes lost electrolytes and rehydrates better than a sports drink or water’.
It also criticizes the source of the claim – a study based on seven healthy males of Irish extraction without lactose intolerance – stating that lactose intolerance is ‘least common among people who are from, or whose families are from, Europe’.
‘Extrapolates findings’
“MilkPEP extrapolates findings from a very specific, unrepresentative demographic to the population at large, making broad, false implications that milk is an exercise recovery drink for all Americans, regardless of race, age, or ability to digest lactose, when it clearly is not,” Switch4Good said.
“Cow’s milk is not suitable to ‘real recovery’ if you are lactose intolerant or even sensitive to the lactose found in cow’s milk, as you will experience multiple deleterious symptoms that will cripple recovery…
“This false statement by MilkPEP will affect a highly significant portion of the population, considering the NIH statistic that at least 36 percent of all Americans are lactose intolerant.”
*The FTC cannot resolve individual complaints, but does provide information about next steps to take. It shares reports with local, state, federal, and foreign law enforcement partners and may be used to investigate cases in a legal proceeding.
