Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Fast food chain Steak ‘n Shake announced in a Nov. 13 alert on X that it is changing its milk and chocolate milk to A2 beginning Dec. 1.
Steak ‘n Shake said the shift was due to A2 being easier on digestion and may help some customers avoid discomfort. The company will source A2 milk from cows that “only produce A2 type protein” and are “never treated with growth hormone rBST.”
A1 and A2 are the different types of milk proteins produced by cows, with some animals’ milk having both proteins, while others have one.
According to an August 2022 study published in the National Library of Medicine, “there seems to be a sufficient consensus on the beneficial effects of A2 milk on the reduction in digestive intolerance associated with the consumption of A1 milk.”
“This positive effect is of great importance, since a good part of the consumers who have abandoned milk consumption have done so because conventional milk causes them discomfort,” it said.
People with lactose intolerance will also face issues with A2 milk. However, for individuals who only have casein A1 intolerance, A2 milk may offer relief.
According to data analysis company Scrape Hero, Steak ‘n Shake has nearly 400 outlets across 24 U.S. states, with the number declining from a peak of 600 before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the outlets are based in Florida, Illinois, and Indiana.
Steak ‘n Shake’s switch comes at a time when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been promoting the consumption of milk.
During a news conference in July, Kennedy said: “I grew up in a world where milk was the healthiest thing that you could eat. There’s been an attack on whole milk, cheese, and yogurt over the past couple of decades.”
He said the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture plan to release new dietary guidelines that aim to “elevate those products where they ought to be in terms of contributing to the health of our children.” The new guidelines are expected to be released next month.
Regarding fries, Steak ‘n Shake announced in an Oct. 29 X post: “Our fries could be partially cooked in 100 percent beef tallow before they’re shipped to us. And then we cook them again in 100 percent beef tallow at the restaurant.”
Kennedy has been an ardent backer of beef tallow.
In an Oct. 22, 2024, post on X, he said McDonald’s used to make its fries with beef tallow from 1940 before beginning to phase it out for seed oils in 1990.
“This switch was made because saturated animal fats were thought to be unhealthy, but we have since discovered that seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic. Interestingly enough, this began to drastically rise around the same time fast food restaurants switched from beef tallow to seed oils in their fryers,” Kennedy said.
“People who enjoy a burger with fries on a night out aren’t to blame, and Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidized seed oils. It’s time to Make Frying Oil Tallow Again.”
In an earlier Oct. 19 X post, Steak ‘n Shake said that it eliminated seed oils from its fries.
The American Heart Association (AHA) does not argue against consuming saturated fats, such as beef tallow, but advises limiting their intake.
The AHA recommends that saturated fats make up less than 6 percent of an individual’s daily total calories.
Loading recommendations…
