Getting Milked

by: Pm - August 31st, 2007

Getting Milked?

Not a month goes by without more good news about the benefits of milk. In the last few months alone, dairy components have been shown to:

Promote weight-loss without significant losses of lean mass (1)
Improve bone density significantly better than calcium supplements (2)
Reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome by approximately 62% (3)
Lower a women’s breast cancer risk by as much as 65% (4)
Protect smokers against aggressive types of prostate cancer (5)
Rehydrate and promote recovery better than isotonic sports drinks or water (6)

Most recently, milk was found to help weightlifters increase lean mass better than soy protein or carbohydrates when taken after workouts (7).

This is great news for all of us who dutifully use whey and casein … or is it? On the one hand, the research supports what many of us have intuitively known; on the other, dairy proteins are almost becoming a victim of their own success. Whereas, isolated dairy proteins (especially whey) were once mainly used as food processing agents, the major food companies are starting to use more concentrated/isolated milk proteins for their nutritional benefits as well. Kellogg's Special K Protein Wateris a perfect example of what I’m talking about.

In some ways it’s nice to see that the benefits of protein are spilling-over into the mainstream. In other ways, it hurts those who use these products most: bodybuilders and other athletes with greater protein requirements. The “why” is pretty straight forward; it’s simple supply and demand. The supply of milk is fairly well established. However, the demand is anything but. In addition to increased use in non-sports-related food products, international demand is growing. Demand for whey and casein proteins is accelerating at an unprecedented pace in Asian countries including China, Japan, and Korea. Milk based components are also finding their way into more and more medical (enteral, tube-feeding) and stages-of-life formulations (infant formulas and senior-targeted Boost and Ensure-type products). Again, this is all good news for consumers. Dairy proteins are nutritious, so everyone should benefit from them right? Yes, but here’s the problem. There’s only so much dairy protein to go around. So, as demand continues to rise faster than the supply, expect the prices of milk and milk-based products to rise. And, that’s exactly what’s happening.

If you’re just about ready to finish-up that 10 lb bag of ON 100% Whey Gold Standard that you bought at the neighborhood health food store three months back, prepare yourself for some sticker shock. The last time that I checked, most whey proteins were about $10-$25 more expensive (5 lb size) than they were back in January. Contrary to what some of my liftin’ buddies think, the supplement guys aren’t getting greedy and padding their pockets with tons of extra cash. It’s not ON’s fault (or BSN’s, EAS’s, MuscleTech’s, or CytoSport’s for that matter). Nor is it Bodybuilding.com’s, DPS Nutrition’s, Nutrition Discounters’, or any other retailer’s fault. Hell, it’s not even the dairy processors’ fault – the costs of feeding the cows, transporting the raw milk in refrigerated trucks, and powering the equipment that processes the milk ain’t getting any cheaper (those of you who’ve bought gasoline or diesel in the last year know what I’m talking about).

If you watch the news, you’ve probably already heard that milk is going to hit an all-time high of $5.00/gallon (average across-the-country). It’s already nearly $4.00/gallon in Chicago. Ouch! Now if you figure that milk is approximately 3% protein by weight, you can understand what’s going on with the prices of our beloved protein powders, meal replacements, and weight-gainers. Because cheese, butter, yogurt, kefir, butter milk, cottage cheese, etc. all require the use of milk, you should expect to see the prices of these foods (and foods made with these ingredients e.g., pizza) to rise as well. In fact, Dean Foods and Domino’s Pizza have already said that they will be raising prices due to the rising costs of dairy ingredients. The drought in Australia, adverse weather in Europe, foot and mouth in the UK, increased petroleum prices, and higher animal feed costs are all being blamed for the short fall in the normal supply of milk and the subsequent price hikes that have accompanied it.

The good news is that being a commodity item, the prices of milk based ingredients will eventually subside. The not-so-good news is that prices are likely to get worse before they get better. (It’s not out of the realm of possibility to see an $80-$90 5-lb jug of whey some day). I suspect that the ever-rising prices will curb dairy consumption within the next 6 to 12 months; but this is only a guess, not a prognostication. (Hopefully, it’s not just wishful thinking on my part…) At this point, the serious users, like all of us, should get some relief.

…till next time.

Happy Heaving,

PM

Sources:
(1) NutraIngredients. 12-week double-blind, placebo-controlled study, finding that adults who consumed whey peptide lost 82% more fat than the placebo group, and retained twice as much lean muscle mass.
(2) Napoli, Thompson, Civitelli, Armamento-Villareal. "Effects of dietary calcium compared with calcium supplements on estrogen metabolism and bone mineral density." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 85, pgs 1428-1433
(3) Elwood, Pickering, Fehily "Milk and dairy consumption, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome: the Caerphilly prospective study." Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 61, pgs 695-698
(4) Kesse-Guyot, Bertrais, Duperray, et. al. "Dairy products, calcium and the risk of breast cancer: Results of the French SU.VI.MAX prospective study." Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, vol. 51, pgs 139-145, doi: 10.1159/000103274
(5) Neuhouser, Barnett, Kristal, Ambrosone, et. al. "(n-6) PUFA increase and dairy foods decrease prostate cancer risk in heavy smokers." Journal of Nutrition July 2007, Volume 137, Pages 1821-1827
(6) Shirreffs, Watson, Maughan, “Milk as an effective post-exercise rehydration drink. British Journal of Nutrition, 2007 Jul;98(1):173-80. Epub 2007 Apr 26
(7) Hartman, Tang, Wilkinson, Tarnopolsky, et al. "Consumption of fat-free fluid milk after resistance exercise promotes greater lean mass accretion than does consumption of soy or carbohydrate in young, novice, male weightlifters." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 86, no. 2, 373-381, August 2007

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