Milk Getting a Raw Deal

Raw milk proponents say it can boost the immune system, but some health officials say it should be avoided at all costs. Who’s right?

CTV British Columbia News is in the middle of its five-part series on raw milk. In its second installment, “Raw milk: magic elixir or health hazard?” they explore studies and doctor opinions on whether drinking raw cow milk is beneficial and safe for human consumption.

The Weston A. Price Foundation, America's largest raw milk advocacy group, had lots of benefits to tout regarding drinking raw milk. Kimberly Hartke, who works for the foundation said her great-grandmother would have died had she not treated her tuberculosis of the bowel with raw milk and eggs. In the article, the Weston A. Price Foundation also states unpasteurized milk can boost the immune system and reduce irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), lactose intolerance, asthma and eczema. In addition, the group noted raw milk contains probiotics, which recently has shown to benefit the immune system, digestion and other health aspects.

However, health authorities, such as Dr. John Carlsey, a public health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, who was quoted in the article, say drinking raw milk is dangerous, and can be lethal. They say heat treatment, or pasteurization, is the only way to destroy potential pathogens in milk that could cause potentially deadly outbreaks of E. coli. And, B.C.'s provincial health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, told CTV News illnesses can pass relatively easily from the cow into the raw milk, and then to humans.

While studies have shown benefits of drinking raw milk, opponents say most are from the 1920s and 1930s and thus, are outdated. However, raw milk advocates, like Mark McAfee, the owner and CEO of California's largest raw milk dairy, said science hasn’t changed and the studies are relevant today. “Gravity didn't change,” he was quoted in the article. “Just because it was discovered 75 years ago doesn't make it less correct or accurate.”

And, current studies do exist. A 2006 European study of almost 15,000 kids in five countries found raw milk may offer protection against asthma and atopic allergies like eczema. An additional Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Raw Milk Workgroup study found 82 per cent of people suffering from lactose intolerance with pasteurized milk could drink raw milk easily.  McAfee is quoted in the CTV News article said FDA is ignoring the positive studies because it does not want to pay for a peer review.

Being a Canadian article, CTV News noted the sale of raw milk was banned in 1991 in Canada; but in the United States, 28 states allow raw milk to be purchased for human consumption. While my home state of Arizona allows the sale of raw milk, I won’t be running out to buy it. I don’t even like to drink pasteurized dairy milk (I’m more of an almond milk kind of a gal), but I do think it’s interesting more people are touting the benefits of raw milk. If the raw milk movement gets bigger and can spur more studies, it may just find itself as a staple in natural product stores, right next to omega-3 eggs and Greek yogurt.