Pretty bold statement I know and no doubt one that a number of readers will criticize... but it is a true statement nonetheless. Before I explain why you should stop drinking these types of milk let me tell you the good points of milk and then you will better understand the information that follows:

Please appreciate that the good points I am about to relate to you is for RAW unpasteurized, non homogenized milk... the type that maybe your mother gave you when you were an infant. (assuming that you are over 50 years of age now) and almost impossible to buy today.

This raw unadulterated, unprocessed milk was a 'living' food full of enzymes, beneficial bacteria, vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins and lactose, (a sugar). Leave a glass of this sitting at normal room temperature and the bacteria within the milk will ferment the sugars into lactic acid producing sour milk, which ironically is even more nutritious than the fresh milk because it is partly digested.

Very few people were allergic to raw milk...

Unlike today's processed milks few people were allergic to the raw milk because of the active enzymes present. For example, there is exactly enough lactase to digest the lactose, protease for the protein and lipase to digest the fat. These enzymes also help the absorption of calcium and the assimilation of other minerals.

So, raw pasteurized milk did give health benefits to many people. Personally I have never drunk any kind of milk because I don't think that it is a natural food once you are no longer an infant... but, that's only a personal opinion and may indeed be the wrong one. However, I know that I am not wrong on the negative health impact that milk from your supermarket will give you.

Here goes...

This process not only kills the enzymes and any bad bacteria but also friendly bacteria such as Lactobacillus. This means that the digestion of the various nutrients such as proteins, fats and sugars then has to be carried out by the body without any assistance from the naturally occurring enzymes and bacteria in the milk, and because of their absence additional undue stress is placed on the pancreas.

So, why is the milk pasteurized in the first place? The answer to that one as you probably know is to make milk safer by killing any contaminants present. This is correct but it is not the true reason. The reality is that pasteurized milk is just as susceptible to contamination as raw milk.

Pasteurization has only come into 'vogue' in the last few decades as the commercialization of the dairy industry evolved. It is a cheap substitute for effective sanitization. If cows, dairies and workers were scrupulously clean, pasteurization would not be necessary... but that's too expensive and so the simple way is to 'kill' everything in the milk. There are some parallels to the increasing practice of irradiating meat... it's a lot cheaper to 'zap' it rather than avoid the contamination in the first place.

Milk which is pasteurized is an 'empty' food like so many other processed foods and people are unwittingly drinking it thinking that it is good for you, when the opposite is true!

But it gets worse...

What about milk which is pasteurized AND homogenized? This is the type of milk that is most prevalent in supermarkets today and people are unwittingly ingesting a lot of undesirable fat.

Our younger readers won't realize this but the good 'ole' milk always had a layer of cream which settled on the top of the milk. Homogenization is a technique used to make milk uniform in texture. It breaks up the fat in the cream fraction into very small particles. The tiny globules of fat which result from this process allows a deadly enzyme called xanthine oxidase to get into the body.

This enzyme can damage artery walls by causing lesions to occur on the lining. All milk fat excluding that from humans have this enzyme... but, it is not normally a problem as the fat globules that contain the enzyme are too large to pass through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream. So, in non homogenized milk the enzyme will pass through the body without doing any damage. Not so however, after the milk has been homogenized because the particles are then small enough to squeeze through the intestinal linings!

Enough said!

Oop's... what about the growth hormones and antibiotics that are given to cows and present in the milk? No... I think that I'll give this issue a miss... have said enough!

I sincerely hope that I have put you off drinking pasteurized, homogenized milk. I accept that this is a real problem for mothers who are relying on the bottle to feed their babies. If you are in this position try to find a source of organic raw goat's milk. It's the closest that you can get to the real thing.

Until next time,

Warren Matthews

Thanks for reading! Hope you found something of interest.