Hooked on cheese? It’s not your fault. That’s because of the casein that works like heroin. Did you know that you’re then addicted to concentrated cow’s pus? These are just some examples from the documentary “What the Health”.
Table of Contents
Milk is racist
Last Sunday, my wife and I had the usual discussion about what to watch on Netflix. Eventually, we compromised by choosing the documentary “What the Health?”. The afternoon didn’t get any more pleasant.
If you feel like losing weight by developing a spontaneous allergy to almost any form of food on earth, then you should definitely watch the documentary. “What the Health” is a documentary that aims to shed light on the relationship between nutrition and health. It explains how the food industry does everything to confuse us with contradictory information and how government agencies consciously or unconsciously contribute to this. The message that resonates the most is:
All food is bad, Cheese is concentrated cow pus, fish and chicken are toxin sponges, and milk is racist.
The latter probably requires the most explanation. I also like to start with it because it’s a good example of the tone of the documentary. Milk is racist according to American Dr. Milton Mills. He explains that the majority of the world’s population has lactose intolerance. The American government would encourage milk consumption because of the financial interests of the dairy industry, despite the fact that 73% of African Americans have lactose intolerance. So, it’s racist.
After about 20 minutes, we stopped watching. We were getting grumpier. Too bad because if we had continued, we could have heard the opinion of Steve-O from Jackass. The diet specialist. I could have actually stopped when it was claimed that there’s nothing wrong with sugar.
Vegan scare tactics
Since then, several family members and friends have asked for my opinion on the documentary. My son even indicated he won’t eat meat anymore. The latter is exactly the goal of the documentary makers, and it’s important to realize that.
The goal of the documentary “What the Health” is not to inform you about abuses and dangers in the food industry, that’s just a means. The true goal is to lure you into the vegan lifestyle.
The makers couldn’t be happier that the documentary appears on Netflix at a time when we’re avoiding eggs from stores due to fipronil contamination.
The film is produced by First Spark Media, a company that mainly produces films with veganism or animal liberation as subjects [1]. They are also responsible for the documentary “Cowspiracy,” also available on Netflix. Executive producer is actor Joaquin Phoenix who has been vegan since childhood. Directors are vegans Kip (no joke) Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. Both also directors of “Cowspiracy”.
Cheese is like heroin
This is evident from claims that can be shocking. If I had to go into all the claims here, this article would have to be 50,000 words long and contain 500 references. So, I’ll just mention one example that I think is exemplary of how the presented ‘facts’ in this documentary should be viewed.
In the documentary “What the Health,” it is explained that cheese has a similar effect to heroin. Cheese contains the milk protein casein which, when digested, breaks down into the peptide called casomorphin. Because casomorphin can have a similar effect on the brain as morphine, the basic ingredient of heroin, it is concluded that cheese is addictive like heroin.
This was a popular conclusion eagerly adopted by many media outlets two years ago; “Dairy crack!” or “The heroin in cheese”. However, a lot goes wrong when you draw this conclusion.
Firstly, because it’s based on misinterpreted outcomes of a study on ‘cravings’ [2]. The study published in Plos ONE was based on two tests. First, participants were asked to choose between two types of food and indicate which one they were most likely to crave afterwards. In a second test, participants were asked to fill in a ‘craving score’ for each product on a scale of 1 to 10.
Processed products high in sugar and fat scored high, with pizza scoring the highest. For some reason, others have inferred from this that it must be because of the cheese on the pizza. However, cheese itself ranked only 16th in a list of 35 products in one group and tenth in a second test group. Items like pizza and chocolate ranked in the top 4. The researchers themselves were therefore amazed that people saw cheese and specifically casomorphin as the cause of the high pizza score. They concluded that the products that scored high contain a lot of sugar, salt, and fat and lead to a rapid rise in blood sugar and insulin.
Moreover, it’s questionable to what extent casomorphin from cheese actually reaches the brain where it could have an addictive effect [3]. However, it is clear that if casomorphin is injected directly into the brains of mice, they can have similar effects as morphine but 20 times weaker. Heroin is then stronger and faster acting than morphine.
So, claiming that cheese works like heroin is a multiple exaggeration of an assumption.
By any means necessary
Although the underlying data is not always presented fairly, one may wonder if such methods are necessary. However regrettable it may be. Certain problems cannot be denied. The enormous food waste caused by using enormous amounts of grain and corn annually to feed livestock. Converted, this meat offers much less energy than all the grain and corn used for this purpose. A huge amount of water is used for livestock, which probably play a greater role in global warming than all cars combined and possibly more than the entire transport sector. For me, there is no doubt that the (future of the) world would look much better if we all stopped eating meat or at least ate much less meat. This information has been available for over 10 years and should not come as a surprise when watching “Cowspiracy”.
But still, I eat meat every day.
Personally, I can’t reconcile my daily need for meat with my moral views on animal welfare and the environment. I can only fool myself into thinking that I need the protein from meat and fish for my gains. But how sad is it if you approve of food waste, environmental pollution, and animal suffering for your gains? Don’t get me wrong; I still don’t hug trees and still eat meat. Even after watching the movie about the super pig ‘Okja’, I still eat pork.
Why? Because I’m addicted to meat. I see it as a generally accepted sin. Everyone does it, right? If the vast majority of people eat meat, then apparently that’s the norm, why should I feel guilty then?
Because slavery was once the norm. Because ‘everyone does it’ or ‘we’ve been doing it for years’ are bullshit arguments. A weak excuse not to listen to your own moral compass because it happens to suit you.
“If conscientious objections aren’t enough to convince someone not to eat meat or eat less meat, what will?” the makers of the documentary must have thought.
Self-interest! “If the well-being of others, the environment, and animals doesn’t interest people, then we need to make it clear that it’s in their own interest. So, we scare them by highlighting and exaggerating all (possible) dangers of animal products. If the food industry spends billions to sell us animal products and create an untrue image, then we must do the same. If people have been indoctrinated their whole lives with the idea that it’s fine to eat meat, then extreme measures are needed to wake them up.
Although I’m not in favor of such selective highlighting of certain research results, I can’t actually think of better goals to use questionable means for: Preventing hunger worldwide, preventing environmental disasters, and unnecessary animal suffering.
Moreover, extreme messages unfortunately seem necessary to get the consumer’s attention. I hear a lot of people talking about “What the Health”. More importantly, I see some of them acting on it. Very different from the hour of moral indignation after watching a documentary about the dangers of the environment.
The problem with these scare tactics is that you’re no longer taken seriously when it turns out you’re rather selective with the truth.
Doctors’ criticism of “What the Health”
The criticism of the documentary below is recommended. Just because it’s so funny.
References
- firstsparkmedia.net/videos
- Schulte EM, Avena NM, Gearhardt AN (2015) Which Foods May Be Addictive? The Roles of Processing, Fat Content, and Glycemic Load. PLOS ONE 10(2): e0117959.
- Scientific Report of EFSA prepared by a DATEX Working Group on the potential health impact of β-casomorphins and related peptides. EFSA Scientific Report (2009) 231, 1–107
