Raw Milk vs Pasteurized Milk
71Raw Milk vs Pasteurized Milk
Raw milk versus pasteurized milk, which is better?
Generally, the only milk available is pasteurized milk. We have even been taught to only accept pasteurized milk as it is supposed to be safest. But it turns out that raw milk is actually easier to digest and has many advantages.
If you are lactose intolerant, you may have better luck with raw milk since its bacteria creates an enzyme called lactase that breaks down lactose.
A survey was done of about 3,000 people, which included 200 that were diagnosed as being lactose intolerant and 90 percent of that group had no problems drinking raw milk. One of the problems with pasteurized milk, which we are all encouraged to prefer, is the rapid heating process it goes through which damages the milk’s very complex proteins so when pasteurized milk is ingested, the body thinks the altered proteins are foreign, which may cause an allergic response.
Raw milk is considered to have a taste richer than store-bought cow’s milk. This is due partly because pasteurization alters the alkaloids that give raw milk its nice flavor. Further pasteurization also destroys the cofactors that help your body utilize all the vitamins in milk, including the binding protein that helps the assimilation of vitamin b12. Also the uptake of calcium, vitamin A and D and iron, is all compromised.
The FDA has argued that there is no nutritional benefit to raw milk and claims it is dangerous. However, cases proving that raw milk has caused illness are rare. Per serving many other foods have caused illnesses more frequently. This includes deli meats, lettuce, and fruit, etc. Interesting, too, that the FDA will tout pasteurized milk as being safe but ignore the fact that many milk companies get milk from cows that have been injected with bovine growth hormones.
Some states stipulate that raw milk must be sold only “on-site” at dairy farms. However eight states allow you to buy it in stores. I have seen raw milk at health food stores and in supermarkets in NYC.
While I am not a big fan of milk, when I lived in S. Korea I tried it. I found the milk to have a superior taste. It was so rich, and like drinking cold liquid cream. Add some chocolate to that and life was a thrill!
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Comments
Great Hub.
I agree fully - my grandfather was a dairy farmer, and we were brought up on raw milk. Never had a problem, and there is a lot of evidence that children brought up in farming country have much stronger immune systems.
Hi laringo - I hope it works for your friend. Our food is so overly processed we don't even know what real food is anymore. Our body keeps rejecting it and we keep thinking we are sick instead of listening to our bodies.
And Sufidreamer thanks for sharing that info. When I think of my relatives who lived on farms and had raw milk - and fresh food - well it seems like they always lived to be 100-200 years old! Our immune systems here in the city are pretty bad.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sounds lovely! :)
Thanks justmesuzanne!
I may even try raw milk now!
we only drink raw milk everyday but it would be interesting to write a hub on how to obtain raw milk. The situations that you have to deal with when you travel from state to state or international and dealing with these procedures. It is no argument there is nothing that can compare with the taste of raw milk. What supermarket has it in nyc? Whole foods? Thanks for this hub very good info for all.
We are seeing more raw milk in the local supermarkets - surprisingly. Since the regular milk tends to have bovine growth hormones I think folks who know that avoid it at all costs - and they should.
While I have never been a milk fan - when I lived in S. Korea I often drank it. Just because it was so rich and creamy - it tastes entirely different from what is sold here. And the chocolate milk - oh wow! The quality is just far far far superior.
I think Whole Foods does carry it!
Thanks for writing!
I never heard about Pasteurized milk before i came to USA. My father is 58 years old. And all people i know in India drinks only raw milk. They are in very good helth and spirit. I also drink raw milk until 3 years ago i came to USA. I was very very surprised to know about Pasteurized milk and to know that people think raw milk is dangerous to health. I used to drink a full glass of raw milk every night before bed. I feel my bones and health is more better than people drink Pasteurized milk. I miss raw milk in NYC. Anybody know where can i have it.
Thanks so much Andy for your comments!
Pasteurized milk is designed to last much longer than raw milk and it is incredibly cheap to make - but of course it deprives drinkers of the benefits - it's about profit unfortunately. Even worse, much of the pasteurized milk is made from cows injected with bovine growth hormones. There are many reasons why Americans are unhealthy - including our very poor quality food.
But we are finally effecting some change here.
Where to buy? - I notice it being sold in regular supermarkets now and in so-called health food stores.
Even though there are benefits to drinking raw milk, there are other issues related to this. If you drink raw milk from the same cows, soon your body will learn to deal with their bacteria. But different caws from different regions and fed differently may have very different bacteria. Your body would get used to some bacteria, and then you get different bacteria from different cows. Supermarkets would have to be consistent getting their milk from the same cows.
Another problem is that we are fed all those manufactured foods from infancy, so our bodies have not developed the antibodies for many of the bacterias found in unprocessed foods. Even worse, the regular milk found in supermarkets has so many antibiotics that it eventually lowers our ability to fight bacteria.
My recommendation to any one is to switch to organic products, including milk and any other animal products they eat. For instance, regular non-organic milk is full of pus that results from the extensive use of antibiotics in the cows.
My own experience with raw milk dates to my childhood. My family is from a farm town in Valencia, Spain. But I was born in Venezuela. My father worked planning oil camps in South America, so I grew up in the campgrounds in the jungle and grasslands, before the oil towns were built. So, For the first years of my life, I only knew powder milk dissolved in boiled water. Then, I was taken to Spain and started drinking raw cow milk. I threw it up the first days. It tasted kind of spoiled to me. But I just loved milk so much that i kept trying it again and again. Eventually, I stopped throwing it up and getting diarreah from it. For many years, I enjoyed drinking raw milk. But I don't think I would make the effort to adapt to it again. Or well, perhaps the vomiting was caused because my deffenses werre used to Jungle bacteria, not to spanish farm bacteria.
I think this is a very good blog that desserves to be discussed alot Discussing these issues brings so much out into the open.
Thank you gramon1! I so agree with you - and as adults we don't even need this type of protein.
And this is exactly why we need locally grown foods as well - we should eat according to our environment.
Your comment really deserves a whole hub article. Maybe you will consider writing one - we do need all the information we can get.
Thanks for writing!
laringo says:
10 months ago
I never knew that raw milk creates an enzyme that is safe for people who are lactose intolerant. I will tell a friend who can't drink regular milk and have her look into possible drinking.