Raw milk truths
Jonathan Golab, or "Science", is a writer for The Stranger, a weekly Seattle newspaper. He recently answered a reader's question about whether raw milk is healthy. His answer, in part, was this:
Milk typically comes out of the cow (or goat or human) without any dangerous bacteria. But think of where most milking occurs—all sorts of unsanitary things may be occurring. Milk is a particularly dangerous food precisely because it is so nutritious; a miniscule amount of contaminating bacteria can multiply in the welcoming environment, greatly increasing the chance of someone becoming ill from ingesting it. Pasteurization works by killing any of the bacteria that find their way into the milk, before they can divide and make you sick later. This little step of heating dairy before storage and transport has been one of the most effective public-health inventions of all time.There are no health benefits in drinking raw milk—the nutrients easily survive the heating.
Science's article is always relevant, especially when considering the public health impacts of the consumption of unpasteurized, or raw, dairy products such as milk. In recent months, at least 87Kansans became ill with Campylobacter infections after consuming raw milk or cheese.
"There are no health benefits in drinking raw milk—the nutrients easily survive the heating."
Tell me why then can I absolutely NOT (I won't get into the details) handle the raw milk I got from a local farmer when I pasteurized it,(or any store bought milk for that matter) but now that I drink it raw, I can drink two gallons a week with no problems? Or, how come a baby calve will die if fed pasteurized milk?
Jason
The test for successful pasteurization is the complete elimination (by heat) of the enzyme phosphatase. Phosphatase is essential for the absorption of calcium. The enzyme lipase, needed for fat absorption, is destroyed. Galactase for milk sugar digestion is destroyed as well as lactase (possibly yielding lactose intolerance), catalase, diastase, peroxidase and others, some of which we may not even be aware. The author says, "There are no health benefits in drinking raw milk�the nutrients easily survive the heating." If in fact, they do (not counting the enzyme nutrients because if they survive the milk is not considered pasterurized), what good does it do if they cannot be absorbed and utilized? Credibility is the reward for telling the whole truth.