Raw Milk – Hazardous to Healthcare Industry

Raw milk from pasture raised and grass-fed cows is the only food that has all the nutrients essential for good health. It is a complex whole food, complete with digestive enzymes and its own antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-parasitic properties. While healthy fats in raw milk support the cardiovascular system, brain, and the entire nervous system, beneficial bacteria and antimicrobial components — absent in pasteurized milk, support the immune system and reduce allergies.

It is an outstanding source of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and Proteins, especially — Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, B6, B12, Niacin, Folic Acid — Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium — Casein Proteins, Whey Proteins, and Fatty Acids — Amylase, Catalase, Lactase, Lactoperoxidase, Lipase, and Phosphatase.

Human body needs Amino Acids as building blocks to synthesize protein. Based on the human genetic code profile, 20 of these amino acids are recognized – 8 of them are considered essential, in that we have to obtain them through food — our body can formulate the remaining amino acids from these eight. Raw Milk contains all these essential 8 amino acids in varying amounts, depending on the lactation stage and the species of the cow.

Dr. Deborah Gordon, MD brands the raw milk as nutritious, wholesome, safe, and health promoting.

Raw Milk – The Definition:
Real Milk is milk that comes from pastured cows, that contains all the fat and that has not been processed in any way—it is raw and unhomogenized (Real Milk).

Nature has designed cows’ digestive system to eat and thrive on grass — green grass in season and dry hay, silage, hay, and root vegetables in Winter. Cows enjoy living in free range open spaces and are happy and healthy, Naturally, milk from these cows is also ‘healthy’ and full of health promoting nutrients. It has been shown that vital nutrients like vitamins A , D, and K2 and beneficial enzymes are greatest in milk from cows eating green grass.

Raw milk is one of nature’s best healing food – a protective barrier against many ailments and diseases — And, that makes it an ‘enemy’ of the ‘Healthcare Industry’.

The Ongoing War on Raw Milk

An organized war, at the behest of ‘Healthcare Industry’, is being waged on Raw Milk – For decades, the FDA and its cahoots have been targeting and harassing the farmers who dare to sell raw milk direct from their farms to people who are willing to drive long distances to get the real milk for their families. Numerous health and medical organizations have been churning out a plethora of ‘clinical studies’ to warn the public against the ‘perils’ of raw milk – And, of course, the Colas and Mc-Burgers are perfectly safe and healthy foods, of course!

May it be that the Raw Milk poses a danger to the health of the Multi-Trillion dollar Health Care Industry?

Milk – A Heavenly Drink

I grew up in a region where milk was an essential part of our daily diet. We drank milk as children. We drank milk after workouts, and we drank milk to recover from our injuries and sicknesses — And, we drank it raw.

Since we had tasted the Real Milk, the milk bought from the store shelves never appealed to our taste buds – It was difficult to digest and caused bloating and heaviness in stomach. Since after the mid-eighty, we started noticing the deterioration in the taste and odor of ‘milk’ to such a degree that we had to give up on milk.

That was until I was finally able to find a local farmer who was bringing raw milk from an Amish farmer and selling it under coop arrangement. We rediscovered the Real Milk again. After such a long time, it tasted like a drink directly from the Heaven — Delicious, Creamy and easy on the Digestive System. We loved it and enjoyed the immune boosting effects of this natural milk — So did our new born son who grew up healthy and strong on raw milk and all organic food.

Healthy & Happy Cows

Raw milk comes from cows that graze on fresh green forage, especially those grazing grass grass. Cows are natural herbivores and are healthiest when they eat grass and live on pasture land. Nature has designed cows’ digestive system for eating grass and hay. Real Milk comes from such health and happy cows.

These happy cows eat food that is naturally appropriate for them – which is mostly grass, hay or silage. The real milk from these happy cows contains all the good fat. It must be noted that most of the important anti-microbial and health-supporting components are in the milk fat – the good fat.

A diet based on grains is foreign to cows’ stomach. Vital nutrients like vitamin A and D, and K2 are greatest in the milk from cows eating green grass, especially rapidly growing green grass in the spring and fall. Vitamins A and D are greatly diminished, and K2 disappears, when the milk cows are fed grains and commercial feed.

The Benefits of Grass-Fed Raw Milk

Raw milk from pasture raised and grass-fed cows is the ONLY food that has all the nutrients essential for good health. While healthy fats in raw milk support the cardiovascular system, brain, and the entire nervous system, beneficial bacteria and antimicrobial components – absent in pasteurized milk, support the immune system and reduce allergies. It is an outstanding source of vitamins, especially vitamin A, zinc, and many enzymes.

Clean raw milk from pastured cows is a complete and properly balanced food – You could live on it exclusively if you had to.

Pastured raw milk is not associated with any of the health problems of pasteurized milk such as rheumatoid arthritis, skin rashes, diarrhea and cramps.

In a survey of raw milk drinkers in the state of Michigan, over 80 percent of those advised by a health care professional that they were lactose intolerant were able to consume raw milk without any complication.

Raw cow’s milk has all of the 8 essential amino acids in varying amounts. About 80% of the proteins in the milk are caseins – reasonably heat stable and, for most people, easy to digest. The remaining 20% or so are classified as the whey proteins, many of which have important physiological effects. Whey proteins, though easy to digest, are very heat-sensitive. These proteins include the key enzymes and the enzyme inhibitors,immunoglobulins (antibodies), metal-binding proteins, vitamin binding proteins and several growth factors.

The Latest research is also focusing on the fragments of protein (peptide segments) hidden in casein molecules that also exhibit anti-microbial activity.

Other Beneficial Ingredients in Raw Milk:
Lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein, has numerous beneficial properties; including improved absorption and assimilation of iron, anti-cancer properties and anti-microbial action against several species of bacteria responsible for dental cavities . Recent studies also reveal that it has powerful antiviral properties as well.

Two other players in raw milk’s antibiotic protein/enzyme arsenal are lysozyme and lactoperoxidase. Lysozyme can actually break apart cell walls of certain undesirable bacteria, while lactoperoxidase teams up with other substances to help knock out unwanted microbes too.

The immunoglobulins, an extremely complex class of milk proteins also known as antibodies, provide resistance to many viruses, bacteria and bacterial toxins and may help reduce the severity of asthma symptoms. Studies have shown significant loss of these important disease fighters when milk is heated to normal processing temperatures.

CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid), abundant in milk from grass-fed cows, is a heavily studied, polyunsaturated Omega-6 fatty acid with promising health benefits. CLA’s many potential benefits: it raises metabolic rate, helps remove abdominal fat, boosts muscle growth, reduces resistance to insulin, strengthens the immune system and lowers food allergy reactions.

There are two groups of vitamins, water-soluble and fat-soluble. Whole raw milk has them all in easily assimilable form. Whether regulating your metabolism or helping the biochemical reactions that free energy from the food you eat, vitamins from both of these groups are essential.

Raw milk contains a broad selection of bio-available minerals – ranging from calcium and phosphorus to the trace minerals.

The 60 plus (known) fully intact and functional enzymes in raw milk have an amazing array of tasks to perform, each one of them essential in facilitating one key reaction or other. Some of them are native to milk, and others come from beneficial bacteria growing in the milk. The most significant health benefit derived from food enzymes is the burden they take off from our body. When we eat a food that contains enzymes devoted to its own digestion, it’s that much less work for our pancreas.

The amylase, bacterially-produced lactase, lipase and phosphatases in raw milk, break down starch, lactose (milk sugar), fat (triglycerides) and phosphate compounds respectively, making milk more digestible and freeing up key minerals. Other enzymes, like catalase, lysozyme and lactoperoxidase help to protect milk from unwanted bacterial infection, making it safer for us to drink.

Sick and Miserable Cows:

Industrial/Commercial dairy cows, on the other hand, live confined in tiny spaces, and are fed Soy Meal,Corn, Cottonseed Meal, Bakery Waste,  Chicken Manure, and even pieces of their herd mates. They are kept in confinements and pumped with antibiotics and a variety of other drugs as the cows get constantly sick due to the unnatural and unhealthy diet and confinement. No doubt commercial milk tastes and smells like Pus – Actually, it is part pus.

Even at the organic dairy farms, cows are fed soy meal. Soy meal has the wrong protein profile for the dairy cows. Ingestion of these grains causes a multitude of health problems for cattle – the main issue being the premature aging of the animal’s organs.
Cows raised on grain diet, especially on soy bean, produce high volume of milk over a short period of time, and then die a premature death.

The Risks of Commercial/Industrial Milk

Commercially produced ‘liquid thing’ that is sold in the name of milk is deprived of these essential constituents of the Real Milk. It is not natural milk. It can be considered a product outright unfit for the human consumption.

Cows raised on commercial feed like soy meal, cottonseed meal, bakery waste, chicken manure or citrus peel cake, laced with pesticides develop digestive problems and diseases that requires administration of antibiotics. Keeping the animal in overcrowded confined spaces further deteriorate its health. Milk from from these ‘commercially raised’ cows – sick, suffering and unhappy, is not only lacking in nutrient, contains pathogens – including pus.

Dr. Debrah hammered in the point well in her analytical essay —

Pasteurization destroys beneficial bacteria found in the raw milk. It destroys the natural enzymes, vitamins and essential antibodies in the raw milk. The process also changes the chemical make-up of calcium in the raw milk, making it Bio-unavailable for our bodies. Calcium is vital to the growth and health of children.

Pasteurization has been implicated in everything from allergies to heart disease to cancer. Many studies have linked consumption of pasteurized milk with lactose intolerance, allergies, asthma, frequent ear infections, gastro-Intestinal problems, diabetes, auto-Immune disease, attention deficit disorder, and constipation.

The Hazards of Pasteurization and Homogenization

Further, the government ‘mandated’ Pasteurization and Homogenization process makes the milk un-digestible, unfit, and bio-non-available for human consumption. Dr. Weston A. Price Foundation has done an excellent job in exposing the dangers of consuming commercial milk and presenting the health benefits of enjoying the Real Milk:

Pasteurization:
Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer.

Calves fed pasteurized milk do poorly and many die before maturity. Raw milk sours naturally but pasteurized milk turns putrid; processors must remove slime and pus from pasteurized milk by a process of centrifugal clarification.

Pasteurization not only destroys many of the nutrients in milk beneficial, it also destroys the digestive enzymes needed to break down and absorb those nutrients. Researchers found lactose (the enzyme in dairy) levels are greatly reduced with pasteurization.

Pasteurization also alters the structure of the nutrients, making them bio-unavailable to the body and difficult to digest — the main reason for allergies and lactose intolerance.

Homogenization:
After pasteurization, the homogenization of milk is the next step. It is a mechanical process that breaks down fat globules by forcing the milk to pass through micro filters – making the fat molecules small enough to bypass digestion and enter the blood undigested. This process also rearrange the fat and protein molecules in the milk—making them difficult to be digested by the body.

But, the main problem is with the fat and protein molecules that – thanks to the homogenization, enter the blood stream undigested. It is one of the main reason of milk related allergies, and the body’s allergic response. When these undigested micro protein and fat particles get stuck on the arterial walls, and, as a natural response, body coat these particles with cholesterol, it causes oxidation of this ‘amalgamation’ — leading to the formation of plaque in arterial walls and coronary heart disease.

Many studies suggest that homogenized milk also contribute to cancer, diabetes, and other chronic disorders.

No wonder, the healthcare industry works so hard to promote the pasteurized and homogenized milk!

Clinical Studies and Research on Raw Milk

Dr. Pottenger was a legendry physician. In 1940 he founded the Francis M Pottenger, Jr. Hospital at Monrovia. Until closing in 1960, the hospital specialized in treating non-tubercular diseases of the lung, especially asthma.

He was a regular and prolific contributor to the medical and scientific literature. He served as president of several professional organizations, including the Los Angeles County Medical Association, the American Academy of Applied Nutrition and the American Therapeutic Society. He was a member of a long list of other professional organizations as well.

In his article ‘Clinical Evidences of the Value of Raw Milk’, ‘Dr. Pottenger writes:

Dr. Paavo Airola wrote this in 1971:

Asthma:
Three recent studies in Europe found that drinking “farm” (raw) milk protected against asthma and allergies -(Lancet. 2001 Oct 6;358(9288):1129-33; J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2006 Jun;117(6):1374-8; Clinical & Experimental Allergy. 2007 May; 35(5) 627-630).

Human Studies:
In early studies involving humans, raw milk was shown to be superior to pasteurized milk in protecting against infection, diarrhea, rickets, tooth decay and TB; and children receiving had better growth than those receiving pasteurized milk ( Real Milk PowerPoint, slides 54-56, 58).

Animal Studies:
In early animal studies, animals fed raw milk had better growth, denser bones, greater integrity of internal organs, less anemia, fewer signs of anxiety and stress, and fewer signs of nutrient deficiency than animals fed pasteurized milk – (Real Milk PowerPoint, slides 57, 59-64).

Raw Human Milk:
In recent studies, infants on pasteurized human milk did not gain weight as quickly compared to those fed raw human milk  (J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 1986 Mar-Apr;5(2):248-53) and premature babies given raw human milk had more rapid weight gain than those given pasteurized human milk. Problems were attributed to pasteurization’s destruction of lipase    (J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 1986 Mar-Apr;5(2):242-7).

Medical Doctors and Clinical Journals on Real Milk:

Galen, Hippocrates, Pliny, Varro, Marcellus Empiricus, Bacchis and Anthimus, leading physicians of their day, all used raw milk in the treatment of disease. During the 1920s, Dr. J. E. Crewe of the Mayo Foundation used a diet of raw milk to cure TB, edema, heart failure, high blood pressure, prostate disease, urinary tract infections, diabetes, kidney disease, chronic fatigue and obesity. 

Studies show that children fed raw milk have more resistance to TB than children fed pasteurized milk (Lancet, p 1142, 5/8/37); that raw milk is very effective in preventing scurvy and protecting against flu, diphtheria and pneumonia (Am J Dis Child, Nov 1917); that raw milk prevents tooth decay, even in children who eat a lot of sugar (Lancet, p 1142, 5/8/37); that raw milk is better than pasteurized milk in promoting growth and calcium absorption (Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 518, p 8, 1/33); that a substance present in raw cream (but not in pasteurized cream) prevents joint stiffness and the pain of arthritis (Annual Review of Biochemistry, 18:435, 1944); and that children who drink raw milk have fewer allergic skin problems and far less asthma than children who drink pasteurized milk (Lancet 2001 358(9288):1129-33).

Raw Milk’s remarkable failure to transmit disease from the pathogens is amazing. The two pathogens that raw milk seems to be remarkably resistant to transmitting are Campylobacter jejuni and Coxiella brunetti. C. jejuni seems to be unable to survive in raw milk for any significant length of time. Doyle and Roman (Appl Environ Microbiol. 1982;44(5):1154-9) found that C. jejuni can cannot grow in milk.

The Lancet, page 1142, May 8, 1937 says that in children the teeth are less likely to decay on diet supplemented with raw milk than with pasteurized milk.

In their study, ‘Exposure to farming in early life and development of asthma and allergy’, the ALEX Study Team (The Lancet, Volume 358, No. 9288, p1129–1133, 6 October 2001) found, “Long-term and early-life exposure to stables and farm milk (i.e. raw milk) induces a strong protective effect against development of asthma, hay fever, and atopic sensitisation.”

A randomized study on infants conducted by Professor at the Umea University, Sweden found on an average, 17% higher fat absorption with raw as compared to pasteurized milk. Infants gained more weight and linear growth assessed as knee–heel length was also greater during the week they were fed raw milk as compared to the week they were fed pasteurized milk.

In their expert witness statement in the trial Michael Schmidt in Ontario, Canada, DR.Ted Beals MS, MD, a board certified Pathologist at University of Michigan Medical School and Molecular Oncology section of the Department of Pathology, and Ron Hull Ph.D. in Molecular Oncology, Department of Pathology, Stanford University Medical Centre, stated that:

Notes and Cautions

Raw Milk, like the Raw Honey, may not be suitable in certain conditions. Some of us are genetically intolerant to any dairy product. If you have not been drinking milk for a long time, start on raw milk in small quantities. Consult your medical service provider if you have a medical condition before embarking on any new regimen.

Where to Buy

Raw Milk is not commercially available in most states in US. Your best source is, of course, your local farmers. For information sourcing the Real Milk in your area, you may like to visit  www.realmilk.com.

— Enjoy A Glass of Real Milk! —

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References Include:

1. The LancetExposure to farming in early life and development of asthma and allergy: a cross-sectional survey
2. Dr. Deborah, MDHealth Benefits of Raw Milk
3. the Weston A. Price Foundation Raw Milk: What the Scientific Literature Really Says.
4. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyThe protective effect of farm milk consumption on childhood asthma and atopy: The GABRIELA study
5. A Campaign for Real Milk Abstracts on the effect of Pasteurization on the Nutritional value of Milk
6. A Campaign for Real Milk Abstracts on the effect of Pasteurization on the Nutritional value of Milk
7. The American Society for Nutritional Sciences – The Journal of NutritionThe Role of Dietary Fat in Child Nutrition and Development
8. Dr. MercolaThe Benefits of Raw Milk
9. Liane Macdonald, of University of Toronto – Clinical Public Health DivisionRaw Milk has higher levels of vitamins B12, E, B1 and folate.
10. The Bovine Raw milk injunction application hearing
11. Prof. Olle Hernell, Department of Clinical Sciences, Pediatrics, Umeå University Pasteurization of mother’s own milk reduces fat absorption and growth in preterm infants