Polly: Only in California and Florida are USA citizens allowed to buy certified raw milk at the store. Residents of other states can get raw cheese at the store, but that is about all they can get. In order to obtain raw milk products, they have to go directly to the farmer and purchase a share in a cow. Then they are legally able to drink raw milk from their own cow.
Why should anyone with dysbiosis be concerned about the availability of raw milk? Because fresh raw milk seems to be better for the intestinal track than pasteurized milk. This quote is from The Milk of Human Kindness is not Pasteurized or Homogenized, by William Campbell Douglass, MD.
“Dr. Paul Cassidy reported before a dairy convention the phenomenal results he had had at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Philadelphia by switching from pasteurized to raw certified milk. The commercial pasteurized milk often had a bacteria count of 200,000. The sister in charge of the hospital was very concerned about the high death among infants from gastroenteritis. She asked Dr. Cassidy for his advice, and he recommended a switch from pasteurized to raw certified milk. The pasteurized Chicken Littles predicted that there would be a catastrophic increase in infant deaths from using raw milk. The death rate from gastroenteritis quickly fell from a high of 89 in 1922 to less than five per year. [Annual Convention, Certified Milk Producers Association, Hotel Roosevelt, New York City, February 8, 1938.]”
Sally Fallon’s book, Nourishing Traditions, contains an infant formula recipe that uses raw milk. However, just to be on the safe side, before giving raw milk to an infant or child, always drink enough of the milk yourself first, so you are sure it is fresh and clean. Some brands are consistently fresher tasting than others are. You may notice that the fresher brands are from cows that are grass fed. Healthier cows means the milk is less hospitable to poor bacteria.
Douglass’s book makes many wonderful arguments for using raw certified milk. People can’t argue with the fact that the minerals and other nutrients in raw milk are more available to the body; but it is hard to change people’s attitude towards all that live bacteria that is present in the milk. Yet, did you know that the government allows much more bacteria in pasteurized milk than it does in raw certified milk? I’m not claiming that any milk is 100% safe, and I believe you must be careful with any type of milk. Never drink any milk if it smells or tastes bitter or bad. Yet, I believe that when you balance the benefits versus risks, most of us are much better off with fresh raw milk from grassfed animals where the milk has been carefully collected and properly inspected.
Even though raw milk is generally not available, I’ve occasionally seen some milk that is pasteurized but not homogenized. At least this is one step in the right direction. Why should our milk be homogenized? Homogenization does nothing good for you except keep the cream from separating from the milk. It doesn’t kill bacteria and it isn’t harmless. Homogenization increases the absorption of XO, Xanthene Oxidase, from the milk, which contributes to hardening of the arteries.
With raw milk, it is best to drink whole milk. The fat is very good for us. With homogenized milk, because of the XO, I don’t know if we should be using this product or not. Yet I do know that often the 1% and 2% milk have added “milk solids”. This is just another name for powdered milk. Unfortunately you don’t know how long this powdered milk has been in storage, and whether or not it has had time to go rancid. Fortunately, they usually don’t put the powdered milk in the whole milk or the skim milk. Therefore, if you want 1% or 2% milk, buy some whole milk and skim milk and mix them half -and- half. Or if you can find some unhomogenized cream, add that to the skim milk. At least this way you avoid the powdered milk and the homogenization. For more information, see
http://www.rawmilk.org
ww.karlloren.com/aajonus/p15.htm
William Campbell Douglass, MD, has retitled his book on milk and has made it available as an affordable paperback. His book is now called The Milk Book / How Science is Destroying Nature’s Nearly Perfect Food. The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation carries William Campbell’s book, phone (800) 366- 3748, or website http://www.price-pottenger.org. It is also available from from Radiant Life (888) 593- 8333
Dr. William Campbell Douglass also has a very entertaining monthly newsletter called “Real Health,” where he exposes many of the health myths of our time. phone call 800-851-7100. http://www.realhealthnews.com/index.html However, he still seems to favor phytoestrogens. That is something I disagree with.