Raw Milk?

What are you thoughts on drinking raw milk? Do you think there is a health benefit to it over homogenized, pasteurized milk you can buy at grocery stores? Also, is there a local source to buy it?

[Robin Garr]

Raw milk is illegal for sale in Kentucky because of the small (but not impossible) risk of listeria and other bad bacterial infections, which can be particularly threatening to small children and the elderly.

Rainbow Blossom used to have it, prominently marked "For Use for Pets Only" <wink wink nudge nudge>, but I'm pretty sure the authorities made them stop.

My thoughts on drinking raw milk are "Don't." Heck, I won't even eat cheese made from raw milk.

OK, cheese heads, don't yell at me. I know it's served in a lot of countries. But I choose not to eat it.

OK, cheese heads, don't yell at me. I know it's served in a lot of countries. But I choose not to eat it.

I make a special exception for the Capriole (Greenville, IN) raw goat milk cheeses. As they say in French: "That is some good shite"

BP

Yes, I believe there are quite a lot of health advantages to raw milk over homogenized, pasteurized milk. I'd like to share some tidbits from an excellent book on nutrition, called "Death by Supermarket" by Nancy Deville.

"Today, Organic Pastures is the only certifed raw dairy in California. It produces 100 percent organic raw milk and dairy products. . .Milk is chilled to 36 degrees Fahrenheit within thirty seconds of milking. Prior to bottling, the raw milk is tested to assure it exceeds the standards of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CFDA). . .'The law states that milk after pasteurization must have less than 15,000 bacteria per mililiter,' . . .'Organic Pastures raw milk averages about 1,500 bacteria per mililiter. In four years of intensive testing by the CDFA, Organic Pastures' milk has never once tested positive for Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes or E. coli O157:H7.

. . .Whole, raw milk contains butterfat with vitamins A and D3, necessary for the assimilation of calcium and protein. Natural vitamin D3 prevents autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis and prevents osteoperosis. Natural vitamin D3 is also linked to improvement in mood and relieving symptoms of depression.

. . .Raw milk products also contain enzymes, without which life cannot be sustained. Because pasteurization kills enzymes, strain is put on the pancreas to produce the enzymes to digest it. Without natural enzymes in milk, lactose is indigestible for many people. Raw milk from a strictly grass-fed cow is also extremely helpful for people with gastrointestinal problems, even for people who think they are lactose intolerant because raw milk contains the lactase enzyme to help digest lactose."

On the flipside, some words regarding factory milk:

"Natural milk was consumed in the United States until the War of 1812 with England, when whiskey shipments from the British West Indies abruptly halted. To address this problem, distilleries sprang up, extracting alcohol from grain to produce their whiskey. Enterprising distillery owners, looking for a use for the chemically altered, acidic waste product known as 'distillery slop' built dairies adjoining or in the basements of their distilleries, and fed the waste product to cows. Now the cities had their whiskey and their 'slop' or 'swill' milk.

. . .The unnatural swill feed lacked the life-sustaining nutrients necessary to maintain healthy metabolic processes and was foreign and toxic to bovine physiology. Thus the resulting milk lacked nutrients and was unfit for human consumption. . .As the swill milk business boomed, infant mortality rose, with babies dying of tuberculosis, diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, scarlet fever, and diphtheria.

In the 1860s, Louis Pasteur discovered that heating milk killed off pathogenic microorganisms that led to many infectious diseases. . .What was not known in Pasteur's time is that the heat of pasteurization kills vitamins C, E, A, D3 and B complex, diminishes calcium and other minerals, and makes them harder to absorb, as well as reducing the digestability and lessening the nutritional value of protein. Most important, the heat of pasteurization destroys the enzymes in milk. . .The ridding of enzymes from our food supply has been a major contributing factor to the downfall of Americans' health."

I could go on. . .

Milk is a drink for nursing mammalian infants. Get your calcium and vitamin d from other sources.

Milk is a drink for nursing mammalian infants. Get your calcium and vitamin d from other sources.

Bah. Evolution disagrees with you, otherwise northern europeans (and some others) wouldnt have the genetic mutation that allows us to break down milk as adults. Hooray for mutation!!!!

The Dangers of Raw Milk: Unpasteurized Milk Can Pose a Serious Health Risk

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm079516.htm

Milk is a drink for nursing mammalian infants. Get your calcium and vitamin d from other sources.

Thank you Mark! You're right on. Why drink cow milk, unless you're a baby cow? In spite of massive advertising campaigns suggesting otherwise, it really isn't good for you.

Why drink cow milk, unless you're a baby cow?

Because they dont sell human milk at Kroger.

Milk is a drink for nursing mammalian infants. Get your calcium and vitamin d from other sources.

Right on, sir! From what I have read one grapefruit will more than cover your daily needs for each of these. I was surprised to find out how much calcium can be found in fruit.

Maybe I am missing something but a grapefruit doesn't have that much cacium. At least that is what I found when I just looked it up.

Actually a very large proportion of adults are lactose intolerant. There's no need to drink milk as an adult, so the ability to break down lactose naturally decreases as you age. If you're over two, you just don't need it. (Obviously you need calcium, but you can get it lots of other ways.) There are nomadic tribes that subsist on milk and milk products and they do retain the ability to break down lactose.

Maybe I am missing something but a grapefruit doesn't have that much cacium. At least that is what I found when I just looked it up.

Not sure what to say, when I just googled it I found plenty of sites that show the high calcium levels of the fruit. We can have a dueling google off if you want.

I am not saying it equals at cheese say 150 mg per oz vs grapefruit at 50 mg per half fruit but it still has more than most would think.

Actually a very large proportion of adults are lactose intolerant. There's no need to drink milk as an adult, so the ability to break down lactose naturally decreases as you age. If you're over two, you just don't need it. (Obviously you need calcium, but you can get it lots of other ways.) There are nomadic tribes that subsist on milk and milk products and they do retain the ability to break down lactose.

About 90% of descendents of Northern Europeans are lactose tolerant. Much less for others (only 40% worldwide). The genetic mutation that allows it occurred amongst central european dairy farmers and spread from there. Sweden has the highest percentage in the world of lactose tolerant people. There are some different genetic mutations that give the same result for some other cattle-based tribes (as you mentioned), mostly in central africa, from what I can tell.

The fact that I dont need milk products isnt going to stop me from eating cheese.