Growers and Grocers

Originally posted on Fit Fare by Sarah LeMieux

As a nursing mom, as well as a health nut, my interest was doubly piqued when I read a recent article about raw cow’s milk on Salon.com. I already know all the miraculous health benefits of human milk - it confers immunities, prevents allergies, protects against infection - it’s even antimicrobial. Weird anecdote: I applied some topically to my daughter’s rash after reading an article in Mothering Magazine, and it improved the rash more than prescription cream. I also remember being warned never, ever to heat breast milk above body temperature, because doing so would destroy those wonderful immune factors and tiny living helpers. Logically, according to a growing number of raw milk fans, the same thing happens with cow’s milk: once it’s heated to 145 degrees during pasteurization, a ton of health benefits are lost to the drinker.

The heat of pasteurization destroys vitamins and beneficial bacteria, like lactobacillus (think yogurt), enzymes and immune factors. Raw, or unpasteurized milk, still contains these microscopic factors. Some say it can cure asthma, eczema and other chronic diseases - even hepatitis C, according to one New Jersey man, who attributes his consumption of raw milk to the fact that the virus is now undetectable in his system. The Weston A. Price Foundation, a group that touts the health benefits of so-called “traditional” foods, including raw dairy, has 400 chapters around the world, and thousands of people are joining each month. Sally Fallon, nutrition activist, and the group’s founder, says “People are sick and searching for answers - and they’re getting better.”

In fact, raw cow’s milk, just like human milk, is full of active antibacterial factors that may actually kill dangerous germs. Mark McAfee, owner of Organic Pastures dairy, is regularly investigated by the FDA. “They’ve never found a pathogen,” McAfee says. He even sent samples of his milk to a private lab, and had them purposely contaminated with high levels of harmful bacteria including Salmonella and E. Coli. The number of bacteria decreased with time, leading the lab to report that “raw milk [does] not appear to support the growth” of these germs, inhibiting it instead.

The FDA and the American Medical Association are dead set against the practice of drinking raw milk, officially. John Sheehan, the director of dairy and egg saftey at the FDA, likens drinking raw milk to “playing Russian roulette.” Surprisingly, raw milk activist Rahman Dalrymple agrees - sort of. “Raw milk is dangerous,” he says, “if you get it from one of these industrial dairies that have fecal matter and pus and blood in their milk.”

According to Dalrymple, the difference between raw milk from a dirty industrial farm, and raw milk from a spotless organic farm, is lost on the hopelessly bureacratic FDA. He maintains that pasteurization actually increases the likelihood that milk will be dirty - it does nothing to stop milk from becoming contaminated to begin with. The legally acceptable level of bacteria in pasteurized milk is almost five times that for raw, some 50,000 CFU per millileter. Sally Fallon agrees, noting that because pasteurization destroys the immune factors normally present in milk, widespread contamination actually becomes more likely with pasteurized milk, as it lacks those protective factors.

Ok, FDA. We got it. Cloned food = safe. Raw milk = dangerous. Regardless of whether you believe in raw milk’s magical powers, it’s not going to be showing up at your local megamart anytime soon. It’s been illegal to sell it across state lines since 1987. If you’re interested, you’ll have to drive to one of the 22 states where it is legal to buy, unless, of course, you have your own cow. What a world.