Why We Drink Raw Milk

Got milk?

There is lots of debate and controversy around milk these days.  Growing up we drank milk, and I liked it.  I think we drank 2%. Then in college I switched to skim milk (I thought fats were bad and going to make me fat).  When my husband and I got married we stopped drinking milk because he felt like he did not digest it that well.  So we tried soy milk for a while, but stopped that because it was expensive and we thought it tasted a little funny.  There were a lot of years where we really did not drink milk and we did not think much of it.  Then we had children and the doctors recommend to give children 1 year old and up whole milk.  So we gave our boys whole milk and I began to hear about the stories behind the milk at the store and wondered if I should be giving it to my children.


A couple years ago I read through the chapter in Nourishing Traditions about milk.  I learned a lot about milk from the chapter in her book (pages 33-35).  She basically stated that the milk from the supermarket is bad for everybody.  The cows are not cared for well or fed well and the milk is highly pasteurized which means they heat the milk up to a really high temperature to kill any of the potential bad bacteria (while killing all the good bacteria and enzymes as well) and it is homogenized so that the milk does not separate.  Many of the enzymes that are present in raw milk which help aid digestion of the milk are killed in the pasteurization process which makes the pasteurized milk at the store much harder to digest than raw milk.

Most every baby mammal produces an enzyme called lactase, an that enzyme helps to digest lactose which is the sugar in the milk.  The production of lactase decreases with age and many people will often stop producing lactase in adulthood.  Some estimates say that only 30-40% of the world's population produces lactase in adulthood.  Many lactose intolerant people can still consume a little bit of milk without too much problem.  Overuse of antibiotics can contribute to lactose intolerance.  Some people are allergic to casein which is a protein found in milk, it is one of the most difficult proteins for the body to digest.  Some people who are unable to tolerate fresh milk can tolerate fermented milk like kefir and yogurt, because much of the lactase is broken down by the fermentation.

There have been lots of accusations against raw milk over the years that it is dangerous because there is bacteria in the milk, etc.  The truth is that there have been more outbreaks of salmonella in fruits and vegetables than there have been in raw milk.  There is a story of a FDA worker who went to a raw milk farm and they were set on shutting it down.  The FDA worker injected some bad bacteria into the raw milk at the farm, then took the milk to the lab to have it examined.  Much to his surprise, the enzymes in the raw milk killed off the bad bacteria in the milk by the time he got to the lab! (story from the Untold Story of Milk book)

A couple years ago I read a great book called the Untold Story of Milk.  This book gives a great history about milk.  The author went into detail about the history of milk in America and how we got to where we are today with the ultra pasteurized and homogenized milk we find at the grocery store.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  He went back to the history of why pasteurization started.  Back in New York, people started moving to the city and no longer had their own cow in their yard.  So they started having a lot for cows in the city.  They decided to give these cows the left over grains from making whiskey.  These cows were not taken care of well and they were not fed well at all.  The milk they produced was a bluish color and hardly had any cream.  The moms in New York were feeding this milk to their babies and the milk was so bad that there was a high death rate in infants during that time because of the bad milk.  So a philanthropist was burdened by this and set out to help the infant mortality rate.  His answer to all of it was to pasteurize the milk.  A better way would have been to give the cows some grass and have a nice farm where they could produce nutritious milk.  He wanted a quick fix and so the pasteurization of milk began.  This did significantly help the infant mortality rate in New York.  There are a number of down falls to pasteurizing the milk, the heat alters the amino acids and vitamins and makes it much less nutritious and it makes it harder to digest.  Pasteurization does not always get rid of the pathogens, it may kill them but then they are still left in the milk.  Pasteurized milk also puts a strain on the pancreas to produce the digestive enzymes, which could be a contributing factor to the high rate of diabetes we have today.  Another issue with today's milk is homogenizing the milk, which they suspend the fat particles so the cream does not separate from the rest of the milk.  This started because when farmers would deliver their milk the customers would complain about not all getting the same amount of cream.  So they decided to suspend the fat particles so that everyone would get the same amount of fat.  These particles are so small that it could be possible for them to pass into the bloodstream causing problems for our bodies.

As you can see there are numerous problems with today's milk at the store.  I am thankful that there are a few options of raw milk from farmers in my area.  I have a great farmer who raises healthy cows who produce a very nutritious milk!  I would highly recommend trying out raw milk if you have not already.  If you are unable to drink milk from the store there is a good chance you may be able to drink raw milk.  If you still cannot tolerate raw milk I would recommend going with a fermented milk like kefir or drink coconut milk (stay away from soy milk, or any soy products for that matter, for more info on soy, this is a great book to read).  If you are interested in seeing if there is raw milk in your area click here, some of the info might not be up to date, but it is still worth taking a look at to see if there is a raw milk farmer near you.  I love supporting my dairy farmers, they are committed to producing good quality products and these small farms are getting shut down so often because of how hard the FDA is coming down on them.  The FDA really is out to shut down many of these small farms.  There are some states where it is illegal to buy raw milk!!  It seems so crazy to me that there are some states where abortion is legal but buying raw milk is not?! It does not make any sense.

I love raw milk and so do my boys, I feel good about giving it to them.  (We do on occasion have pasteurized milk like if we are traveling or if we go to chipotle as a family we let the boys get chocolate milk with their meal)  We use the majority of our raw milk for homemade kefir smoothies.  Raw milk can be a lot more expensive but it is packed with nutrition!  If you have never tried raw milk, you should, you might never go back to milk at the store again.