Just caught this article by chance, and had many WTH moments. Please excuse typos; I had to manually type it up as it doesn't seem to be published on their site. Full article, plus my observations. No copyright infringement intended, but I have to call this writer out (warning: I get snarky when I lose my patience).

Should we be mooving away from 'filk'?

Fake millks may be fashionable, but are they any better for you than cow's milk, asks Nicole Mowbray.

Stand in the queue in a coffee shop and you're almost certain to hear someone ordering themselves a latte with dairy-free soya, almond, rice, oat or coconut milk. Or as I like to call them, 'filks' (fake milks).

"Filk"... Seriously. And in answer to the first question: yes.

A quick glance at recent statistics shows why. Over the past 25 years, there's been a ten-fold rise in the number of Britons purporting to suffer from food and drink allergies or intolerances (the term given to symptoms of irritation or discomfort, rather than violent allergic reactions). And it's not only adults. In the UK, two in every 100 children have an allergy to cow's milk.

Indeed, lactose or other milk intolerances are not to be sniffed at. GPs agree that, for some, dairy products contain some allergenic elements. Alongside lactose, the naturally occurring protein casein can also cause bloating, stomach discomfort, vomiting and sinus issues.

... and what else?
http://www.livestrong.com/article/257495-casein-protein-dangers/
http://nakedfoodmagazine.com/casein-and-cancer/

Cancer, potentially. You forgot to mention cancer.

These issues go some way to explaining why sales of milk have fallen by 30 per cent over the past 30 years. In comparison, the consumption of substitute milks is soaring, up 17 per cent in the past year alone, with the market being valued at £139million.

Except you forgot to mention that there are plenty of other reasons for giving up dairy, not least the fact that the dairy industry inflicts extreme cruelty on the dairy cows and goats.

The most popular variety is soya milk, which is created by soaking, grinding and boiling soy [sic] beans.

And what is wrong with that?

This is closely followed by the almond and rice varieties.

But far from being the panacaea to cure our food ills,

Okay, since when did anyone, even the most ardent vegan, claim that plant-milks are the panacaea to anything at all? This article is already filled with stupid rhetoric to lull the ignorant reader into the author's mindset.

a growing number of proponents from the health world are trying to increase awareness of how surprisingly unnatural many milk alternatives can be.

Hey listen, any highly processed food is not going to be as good or "natural" as food in its whole or close-to-whole form. Again with the hyperbole. And by the way, would these proponents happen to include the WAPFtards?

Despite proclamations by celebrity advocates such as [insert boring list of people I've never heard of], alternative milks may be less 'good' for the lifestyle drinker (ie, those who do not have a medical reason for drinking them) than cow's milk.

This is completely not true. Whisking up a glass of home-made plant-milk is always going to be better than drinking cow's milk. TRUFAX.

(I can't believe this article has pushed me to saying "trufax".)

The inconvenient truth is that despite being plant- or nut-based,

Inconvenient, huh? Sad. Shall we talk about the inconvenient truth of the dairy industry, Ms Mowbray? Of course not. It's too inconvenient for your article.

many 'filks' are highly processed and contain a long list of ingredients.

As I said, processed food is processed food. You don't have to buy your vegan milk! Make your own and control exactly what goes into it. However, notice that the author never ONCE mentions that plant-based milks can be easily made at home, thereby bypassing all the nasties, sweeteners, etc.

Cow's milk of course, contains just one.

But this statement belies what this "one" "innocent" ingredient actually contains. Yes, Ms Mowbray, you forgot to mention that cow's milk is swimming with oestrogen and progesterone. Not to mention the myriad of other nasties that are found in animal milk:

Sugar, salt, vegetable oils, fruit juice concentrate (in reality, another form of sugar), locust bean gum, stabilisers and emulsifiers are all present in many alternative milks.

Doesn't sound so bad compared to what goes into a glass of cow's milk. Although carrageenan is bad. I highly recommend avoiding carrageenan like the plague, in fact, avoiding it like cow's milk.

'Dairy-free milks are great for people who need them,' says nutritionist Ian Marber.

Hey guess what? If you're old enough to read this, you're old enough to be weaned. And guess what else? Once you're weaned, you do not NEED any milk. The only liquid you need is W A T E R. Not vegan milk, not juice, not dairy -- just water.

'For those who have allergies or intolerances, they are the only viable alternatives to milk.

No, there is another viable alternative and that is WATER! And if you want milk with your cereal, and are worried about the "inconvenient truth", you can always blend up some plant milk at home.

But people must look at the ingredients.

But that applies to everything. So that statement is superfluous. In any case, a bottle of cow's milk will not state that it's full of oestrogen, but it still is.

Many of these products clearly state that they are sweetened, which means they contain sugar. Yet no one would buy a bottle of milk that had sugar added to it.

Except they do. It's called flavoured milk. Also, if it's "clearly stated", what's the issue? No one is being deceived. Unwseetened variteties are available, also clearly labelled. Anyway, again, this guy also completely ignores that you can make your own milk at home with nothing more than the raw plant and some water as the ingredients. But that wouldn't suit this author's pro-dairy agenda, would it?

Also, according to this site about lactose intolerance, regular cow's milk is average 4.8% lactose, ie 4.8% SUGAR!

Do you know what that means? If we include the water content in the total (I'm assuming he is, since they normally do, as opposed to total of calories. The site doesn't make it clear), a 200ml glass of milk contains almost 10 mls of sugar. That's TWO TEASPOONS, which is a heck of a lot more than the sugar content in my glass of highly-processed Koko Dairy Free.

https://www.kokodairyfree.com/nutrition

Yes, I'm right. Per 100 ml, there is 4.8g average of SUGAR in cow's milk, as opposed to 1.6g SUGAR in Koko Dairy Free.

'What we find is that people turn against things which are the most popular, often without good reason. This has happened to cow's milk

Oh you have got to be kidding me. I have very good reasons for avoiding dairy, as do the millions of others worldwide who avoid dairy out of choice. I didn't decide to cut out my favourite food, one which I had been brainwashed to see as necessary for health, because I just wanted to be fashionable (I'm really not fashionable at all). How utterly patronising. I guess people started turning against smoking, just to be edgy? Or maybe as we do more research, we start to see that those things we considered healthy might not be quite so very?

but unless you dislike the taste or have an allergy, there is no reason to eliminate it from your diet.'

Really? Do I have to go through this again?

• Dairy linked to breast cancer
• In countries where dairy consumption increases, so does the incidence of prostate cancer
• Dairy consumption in childhood is linked to Type 1 diabetes. Those who have a genetic predisposition, but don't consume dairy, can avoid developing the condition! And going vegan, low-fat, and low-GI/GL can REVERSE type 2 diabetes.
• Many have found from personal experience that eliminating dairy eases respiratory problems (my persistent -- sometimes so violent it would make me dry retch -- 15 year cough settled down only after I'd been dairy-free for some months. Medications from my doctor did nothing, neither did aromatherapy inhalations)
• My anxiety and depression went down down DOWN after I'd completely cut out dairy. (It was actually eggs!) As I said, I was a huge fan of dairy. I used to get weird chest pains as well, and tachycardia/palpitations at night for no apparent reason, both of which I haven't had for over a year now. Life is no longer about surviving another day without something pushing me into that darkness. At times, I even feel carefree! Here's an article (not by a vegan) about the link between dairy and anxiety, with plenty of testimonies in the comments about how eliminating dairy eased their anxiety and panic-attacks! Maybe all the stress hormones from the tortured cows are a reason?
• There are reports of parents reversing their child's autism diagnosis by making them go dairy-free and gluten-free
• Dairy is addictive! It contains opiate-like chemicals, there to create a bond between mother and baby
• The Harvard Nurses Study showed that dairy intake doesn't reduce osteoporosis risk at all. The biggest factor in reducing risk? Weight-bearing exercise. Rather than drink milk, buy a trampoline
• During my childhood, I spent a good 5 years as an outpatient for a mystery kidney disorder. My kidneys were excreting protein (albumin), and not one doctor, over that five years, could work out why. As a last ditch effort, my mum cut back on my dairy, restricting me to no more than 1 glass a day, and after the next test, the condition had mysteriously cleared up! (Unfortunately, shortly after, I went back to my bad habit of drinking 2.5+ glasses of milk a day, but never had any follow up tests, so who knows if it came back.)
• Milk is full of female sex hormones and can affect sexual maturation of children and the hormone-levels in men
• Non-organic milk also could contain antibiotics, since dairy cows frequently suffer mastitis as a result of being made to produce so much milk, and so they are routinely given antibiotics as a preventative. Speaking of mastitis, if you've ever known someone who suffered from it, you'd know what agony it causes. Do you suppose the cows don't feel this agony, too? Maybe more so, as they are producing so much more milk than is natural (10x what they would produce to feed their calf) and all that milk has got to come from somewhere
  
• Since we've segued to the welfare of the cow herself, what about the torment of a cow who has her 2 day old calf forcibly taken away from her because humans think they have more right to that cow's milk than her own baby? Can you imagine the pain that they must both go through? If you have children of your own, think how you would feel if someone snatched your baby away at 2 days old
• Vegetarians, take note: by consuming dairy, you are actually causing MORE harm to cows/goats than someone who eats meat but no dairy. What do you think happens to the animals once their bodies stop producing enough milk to be commercially viable? Are they retired to pasture? NO! They're sent to the abattoir. An animal raised for meat will be slaughtered once it reaches the correct size, usually within two years. A dairy cow will suffer five years of constant agony and abuse (yes, even organic!! Organic is better for the consumer, not the cow), before being slaughtered and sold to places like McDonald's. This way they can claim that all their meat is 100% British (or whatever country the restaurant is in). By supporting dairy, you are still supporting the meat industry
• Cows are artificially impregnated on something called a "rape rack" and yes, it's as horrific as it sounds.
• Cows are kept in a constant state of pregnancy and lactation. No wonder their bodies give up after five years. The natural lifespan of a cow would be 25 years.
• The most overlooked of all: you're not a baby cow. Go wean yourself.
  

Do you still need more reasons, Mr Marber?

A totally biased article by Metro, with no real substance, just hyperbole and wilful neglect of pertinent facts. Her argument is basically: cows' milk good, plant milk bad, because I SAID SO.

You get a grade W, Ms Mowbray. W for WAPFail. I'm sure Sally Fallon would be proud.