The Virtues of Raw Milk
Raw milk contains important heat-sensitive enzymes:
- LACTASE to absorb and digest the milk sugar lactose
- LIPASE to absorb and digest milk fats
- PHOSPHATASE to absorb calcium, which allows for digestion of lactose.
Other Benefits of Raw Milk
- Raw milk has beneficial bacteria, including lactic acids, which live in the intestines, aid digestion, boost immunity, and may eliminate dangerous bacteria.
- Raw milk makes superior cheese, with more healthy bacteria and complex flavor.
- Raw cream contains a cortisone-like agent, which combats arthritis.
- Raw butter contains the anti-arthritic agent myristoleic acid.
Not very long ago, raw milk was regarded as an outstanding health food. In the 1920s, the Mayo Foundation, forerunner of the prestigious Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, prescribed an all-milk diet known as 'The Milk Cure.' In a 1929 article, Raw Milk Cures Many Diseases, a Mayo doctor described milk as an easily digestible food, rich in enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, with a perfect balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Mayo doctors and other practitioners found milk was effective not only for weight loss, but also for ailments including poor digestion, inflammation, rheumatism, asthma, skin conditions, bronchitis, heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney disease. The milk they gave patients was the only kind available: whole raw milk.
In the age of pasteurization, old studies on the benefits of raw milk make interesting reading. In 1916 and 1917, the American Journal of Diseases in Children reported that raw milk prevents scurvy and other infectious diseases such as the flu in babies. That's probably because heat destroys vitamin C. The Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin reported in 1933 that raw milk promotes growth and calcium absorption, no doubt because raw milk contains the enzyme phosphatase. In 1937, The Lancet reported that children who drank raw milk had greater resistance to tooth decay and tuberculosis. In 1938, The Drug and Cosmetic Industry reported that certain pathogens do not grow in raw milk but proliferate in pasteurized milk. The beneficial bacteria in raw milk fight off pathogens. The authors called these 'natural antiseptics.'
In 2001, The Lancet reported that children exposed to raw milk and farm life (particularly stables) during the first year of life, when immunity is established, had less asthma and hay fever. It wasn't clear whether the effect was due to drinking raw milk or exposure to farm and stable life in general-a sort of 'healthy dirt' hypothesis.
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