Epicurean Logo
Kar_kar sent me a link to a raw milk article at The Ethicurean a few days ago. First, the Ethicurean is a new site for me and has lots of interesting reading, ranging from farm bills to the King Corn movie to grass-fed standards and other such goodness. Having spent a few days poring through some of the posts, I recommend this one as an addition to your RSS feeds or your reading routine.

Now onto the article:
Amanda Rose describes the new law passed in California that effectively serves to eliminate the raw milk market. You see, California is one of only 4 states that actually allow people to think for themselves and decide what to put into their mouths, permitting raw milk sales in stores. But now, raw milk has to conform to standards for coliform bacteria which are pretty well impossible for raw milk to attain. By doing so, the law effectively does what the pasteurized milk conglomerates have been hoping for, namely eliminating the competition. But not all coliform bacteria is bad. Raw milk advocates want the beneficial bacteria that comes with milk.

Here is a better alternative for avoiding the Nanny State, which seems to continually invade our lives at the hands of the government. Allow raw milk to be sold as it is today. Put some kind of information on it to inform consumers of whatever dire warnings are deemed necessary. Frankly, I don’t think any warnings are necessary. A cow raised on pasture will produce good milk that doesn’t kill everyone that touches it.

While I’m on the topic, I’ll touch on my feelings about dairy. It’s probably no secret ’round these parts that I’m not a big fan of including dairy in the diet. My reasoning is three-fold. First, the standard for the animal kingdom is to not consume milk past weaning and to not consume the milk of other species. Humans have the market cornered on consuming anything other than mother’s milk. Lactose intolerance is the natural way for the human body past weaning. Most non-Europeans are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance can be induced by avoiding dairy products for a couple months as the body turns off machinery that isn’t needed.

Second, milk is a hormone delivery system. Milk is fed from mother to offspring to pass along immunoglobins, enzymes, vitamins, and proper ratios of protein, fat, and carbohydrates for growth. The caveat on that last sentence is “growth of that’s species’ offspring.” So consuming cow’s milk is consuming a substance optimized to grow a calf from 40 to 400 pounds. Human milk on the other hand is purpose built for human babies.

Third, dairy is not a good source of calcium. It is high in calcium, but the calcium is not absorbed very well. You actually absorb a higher percentage of the calcium in kale than that in milk.(1) Cabbage, asparagus, broccoli, almonds, and canned salmon (with bones) are all sources of calcium without the attendant problems of milk. Further, calcium intake is only a piece of the equation when it comes to osteoporosis. You also have to consider magnesium and vitamin D intake, load-bearing activity, and acid-base balance of the diet. A more acidic diet leaches calcium from the bones. An acidic diet is also the American norm.

I have an even more in-depth discussion of dairy and osteoporosis in my article The Myths of Health Eating, Part II. So given that, I conclude that the best dairy is no dairy, but that raw dairy is preferable to pasteurized dairy if you are going to consume it. Pasteurized dairy is pretty much a destroyed product. The pasteurization and homogenization processes destroy the proteins and fats in the milk; kill off the beneficial bacteria, allowing only the pathogenic ones to proliferate; and render the vitamins and enzymes useless. So try giving the moo juice and see how your body responds.

Sources:
(1) Kale Calcium Absorption


If you enjoyed this post, share it on StumbleUpon or Health Ranker (or both!)


Print This Post Print This Post

Tags: , , ,