raw milk

A few weeks ago I joined Dr. Principe and several other practitioners from WellBeingMD for a screening of Farmageddon. This film by Kristin Canty documents the struggle for farmers to sell and consumers to, well, consume raw milk. It's a big political mess, but I don't really want to get into that. If you're interested (and it is really interesting), go to the film's sight to see about requesting a screening, or you can read more at a few articles to which I've posted links at the end of this post.

Like I said, the politics are messy and there are always two sides, but the nutrition facts are not quite as complicated. I had never heard of raw milk before seeing this film, but its praises piqued my interest. The story goes like this:

In 1862 Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard developed the process now known as pasteurization, in which liquids such as beer, milk, and wine were heated to a temperature that would kill bacteria and molds. In the 1920s pasteurization of milk gained popularity in the United States in order to prevent milk-borne illness. According to the USDA, "During that period, food-borne illnesses associated with milk consumption were common due to poor sanitation in the dairies, diseased farm employees, inadequate refrigeration, and poor animal health conditions because brewery byproducts were used as a major part of the milk cow’s diet and because the cows were housed in filthy conditions in inner city confinement dairies." Now, this is a key point for raw milk advocates, who profess that the frequent outbreaks were due to the poor treatment of cows and careless processing, and that raw milk from healthy cows is likewise healthy and safe.

The four main disease-causing pathogens of concern today are listeria, salmonella, staphaureus and E. coli. Pasteurization kills these bacteria. It also kills the beneficial bacteria found in raw milk and destroys beneficial enzymes. The big claims about the health benefits of raw milk are that it stimulates the immune system, builds a healthy gut wall, and ensures assimilation of all the nutrients in the milk. A 2011 review of epidemiological studies of unpasteurized milk points to a protective effect for the development of asthma, hay fever and atopy (Braun-Fahrländer, von Mutius). However, they concede that there is not enough evidence to outweigh the risks of bacterial infection. Other studies are less optimistic about these health benefits. It seems to me that, like so many areas of nutrition and integrative medicine, we need more research so that we can form educated opinions to guide patients and make healthy decisions for ourselves.

What do you think? Do you have any interesting articles or anecdotes to share? Have you ever tried raw milk?


Links:
http://www.realmilk.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/dining/08raw.html
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=SEARCH&q=raw+milk&site=usda
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21155907
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19737059
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19053805

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Posted by Lisa Moore