Monday, October 4, 2010

got raw milk?

Do you ever look at the vast choices of milk options and are TOTALLY confused?? Which is best? Organic vs. non-organic? Local vs. mass producer? Do you know what is in (or not in) the milk that you eventually choose? Having faced my own confusion in the dairy section, I put together what I think are the most important factors when making my milk decision (after much research of course). You might not think you drink much milk, but it can add up quickly (morning latte, soup for lunch, various sauces, ice cream, etc.) Hopefully you find this as helpful as I did learning about it…
  • If you drink any milk at all, it likely comes off of a factory farm like we have all seen in Food Inc. The cows being milked there are feed a diet full of corn, causing them to often get incredibly sick, as their bodies are not designed to ingest a diet full of corn. Awhile ago, the food scientists in our country figured out that if we gave them certain types and amount of antibiotics, they would get sick less often. Further they figured out too that if we injected them with various hormones, they could produce 2x and 3x even more milk than what their bodies were built for. It seemed fine to everyone at the time. The demand for massive qualities of milk, cream and butter was there, and being the resourceful and capitalist Americans we are, we found a way to make something more efficient. But what are the consequences of such antibiotic and hormone supplements? They wind up in our bodies, because after all we are what we eat. There have been studies that have linked cases of certain cancers, early puberty, testicle shrinkage, sterility, liver damage and even fetus damage with the hormones and antibiotics in our meat. And the kicker is, there is no regulation that lets us know how much in being pumped into the cattle. Think of this the next time you pick out that $2.99 gallon of milk at WalMart, Costco or Safeway…
  • The grass-fed diet for cattle is incredibly important from a nutrient perspective. Milk from grass-feed cows contains higher levels of cancer-fighting CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), vitally important vitamins like A & D, and healthy enzymes designed to help the body assimilate all the nutrients, predominately calcium. These enzymes found in raw milk are critically important for preventing and recovering from disease for people of all ages. Further the omega-3 fat content of grass-fed, pasture-roaming cows has been found to be as high as 50% (it’s virtually nonexistent in factory-farmed, corn-fed animals).
  • What about organic milk? As defined by the USDA, milk and milk products can be labeled "organic" if the milk is from cows that have been exclusively fed organic feed, are kept in pens with adequate space, are allowed periodic access to the outdoors and direct sunlight, are not treated with synthetic hormones and are not given certain medications to treat illness. As you can see, there is a lot of wiggle-room here. The cows can be fed organic corn, not be squeezed SO tightly together and live in an indoor pen with perhaps a small door letting cows go outside that the cows choose never to use. That doesn't seem much different that the factory-farm to me... Organic for dairy is a lot of fancy marketing to charge a much higher dollar for an item that is only so-so better for you, and sometimes it might be worse (see below on ultra-pasteurization).
  • Pasteurization is basically the process of heating the milk to high temperatures (appx. 160 degrees F or higher), aimed to eliminate “harmful pathogens, enzymes and bacteria” in the milk and extend the shelf life. But along the way of killing potential harmful bacteria etc, most, if not all of the good stuff is destroyed as well.
  • Do you ever sit at the grocery store and notice the massive difference in “fresh-dates” on organic vs. non-organic milk? Because of the likely massive production of the milk, the producers often pasteurize at a much higher temperature (often twice as high), which eliminates literally ALL of the good bacteria and enzymes, but significantly extends the shelf life. You can read about ultra-pasteurization here.
  • Homogenization on the other hand is just the distribution of cream throughout the milk, making sure that the cream does not rise to the top, and that the milk is consistent throughout. This process is also done at high temperatures and is consistently thought to increase heart disease in addition to being completely unnecessary. You can weigh the pros and cons here. I like the guy’s article title of the pro stance: “Homogenized Milk: Rocket Fuel for Cancer”…
  • While it’s always possible to get sick from any contaminated food, raw milk seems to be unfairly singled out as a health risk. According to the Weston A. Price Foundation (very cool organization), although raw milk has always been for sale in California, except for a brief period in 1900, there has NEVER been any issue, while there have been numerous instances of contamination of the pasteurized style. The health regulators have followed it incredibly closely (as most of their interested are aligned with major dairy companies) and not even a signal incident was reported, this is literally millions and millions of gallons of consumed raw milk. I do understand that comparatively, there are like 1000x more non-raw drinkers over this time period, but don’t you think its kinda amazing that there was NEVER any issue? There are numerous other studies with the same findings.
  • And local is not always better. I called up a local creamery a few months ago that frequents the local farmers markets to learn that they fed their cows a considerable about of corn and further reserved the right to administer antibiotics if they their cows got sick. I wanted to ask them if they had ever stopped feeding the cows corn, but I resisted the urge to be a complete brat. ;)
So what to do now? I strongly believe that raw, organic, unpasteurized and unhomogenized milk is one of the best health foods out there that we can put in our bodies, so much so that I am starting a trial period of this type. See, I have been using raw milk from Sea Breeze Farm lately to make my own yogurt which has turned out to be quite delicious. So I am going to try out a full switch. Yes, I will be using raw milk in my other culinary adventures and morning latte, which has traditionally been non-fat organic milk. Wish me luck! I have to say, that this morning's latte turned out quite well... :)

Cheers to raw milk!

 
If you would like to read more about raw milk, check out these sites:
http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/
http://www.realmilk.com/

2 comments:

  1. Please don't get sick and die. I like you a lot.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128547897
    http://www.slate.com/id/2260389/

    I know I know, liberal media...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE you, Mr. Jamon, and I love that you posted two sides to the story, pro & con. :)

    ReplyDelete