First of all, please understand that I do not recommend drinking pasteurized milk of any kind -- ever. Because once milk has been pasteurized it's more or less "dead," and offers little in terms of real nutritional value to anyone, whether you show signs of intolerance to the milk or not.
Valuable enzymes are destroyed, vitamins (such as A, C, B6 and B12) are diminished, fragile milk proteins are radically transformed from health nurturing to unnatural amino acid configurations that can actually worsen your health. Finally the eradication of beneficial bacteria through the pasteurization process actually ends up promoting pathogens.
The healthy alternative to pasteurized milk is raw milk, which is an outstanding source of nutrients including beneficial bacteria such as lactobacillus acidophilus, vitamins and enzymes, and it is, in my estimation, one of the finest sources of calcium available.
Raw milk is generally not associated with the health problems linked to pasteurized milk, and even people who have been allergic to pasteurized milk for many years can typically tolerate and even thrive on raw milk.
However, some people may still experience problems, such as upper respiratory congestion, when drinking raw milk, and the difference between the breeds of cows the milk comes from appears to hold the answer.
Different Cows Equals Different Milk
This is an issue you may never have heard of unless you're familiar with the bovine industry, or have done a fair amount of research on milk. But there are actually distinct differences in the milk produced by various breeds of dairy cows.
So-called A1 cows are "newer" breeds that experienced a mutation of a particular amino acid some 5,000 years ago, whereas A2 cows are the older breeds that do not have this mutation.
As Thomas Cowan, MD, a founding board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation explains in his article Devil in the Milk, milk consists of three parts:
• Butterfat,
• Whey and
• Milk solids
The milk solids consist of a variety of proteins, lactose and other sugars. One of these proteins is called beta-casein, and this is the protein of interest when comparing A1 and A2 milk.
All proteins are long chains of amino acids. Beta casein is a chain of 229 amino acids. A2 cows produce this protein with a proline at number 67, whereas A1 cows have a mutated proline amino acid, which converts it to histidine.
The proline in A2 milk has a strong bond to another small protein called BCM 7, which helps keep it from being released.
Histidine (the mutated protein), on the other hand, only weakly holds on to BCM 7, so it is liberated in the GI tract of animals and humans who drink A1 cow milk. Now, BCM7 is a powerful opiate that can have a very detrimental impact on your body.
As discussed in these two articles from the NY Times and the Medical Hypothesis, it is likely the cause of increased phlegm production in your digestive- and respiratory tract, which can worsen upper respiratory problems.
This confirms previous findings, discussed in Keith Woodford's book Devil in the Milk: Illness, Health and the Politics of A1 and A2 Milk.
In it he writes that BCM 7 selectively binds to the epithelial cells in mucus membranes and stimulates mucus secretion.
But that's not all. BCM7 has also been implicated in other far more serious health problems, such as:
• Type 1 diabetes
• Neurological impairment, including autism and schizophrenia
• Impaired immune function
• Autoimmune disease
• Heart disease
For those of you who want to investigate this at greater depth, betacasein.net offers a comprehensive list of published scientific studies of the differences between A1 and A2 milk and their health ramifications.
You can also pick up a copy of Keith Woodford's informative book, Devil in the Milk: Illness, Health and the Politics of A1 and A2 Milk.
The US Raises Mainly the "Wrong" Cows...
A1 cows include the black and white breeds like Holsteins and Friesians. Unfortunately, Holsteins are one of the most popular breeds in North America.
The older breeds, such as Jersey's, Guernsey, Asian and African are primarily A2's. Goats and sheep also produce the healthier A2 type milk.
"Our issue in America is that we have the wrong cows," Dr. Cowan writes.
"When you take A1 cow milk away, and stimulate our own endorphins instead of the toxic opiate of BCM 7, some amazing health benefits ensue.
One saving grace, as expressed in The Devil in the Milk, is that the absorption of BCM 7 is much less in people with a healthy GI tract... BCM 7 is also not found in goat's or sheep's milk, so these types of milk might be better tolerated.
... We now have one more thing to put on our activism to-do list. Dr. Woodford explains that it is fairly straightforward to switch a herd to become an all A2 herd. No genetic engineering is needed, no fancy tests, just one simple test of the beta-casein and it can be done.
Hopefully, when this becomes widespread we will end up with a truly safe and healthy milk supply."
Naturally, getting America's dairy farmers to start switching breeds would require a massive campaign, but in the meantime, just being aware of this inherent difference between A1 and A2 milk can prove to be invaluable for many, especially if you have tried switching to raw milk and still experience problems with it.
You may simply be drinking milk from an A1 breed... Switching to milk from an A2 breed could make a significant difference.
This is also an important point for dairy farmers everywhere to at least consider, as A1 cattle may still not be producing the healthiest milk for human consumption, even when grass-fed.
How to Find Truly Healthy Milk
Depending on where you live, A2 milk may not be that hard to find. In fact, herds in much of Asia, Africa, and parts of Southern Europe still produce primarily A2 milk.
If you live in the United States, New Zealand, Australia or other areas of Europe, however, you'll need to look a bit harder since the majority of cattle in these areas are A1 breeds.
As you know, I advocate getting your raw milk from a local dairy farmer that raises cattle organically, letting his livestock graze on fresh grasses. So to ensure the milk you're getting is A2 milk -- the type that has not been associated with illness and instead appears to have numerous health benefits -- you'd just have to ask what kind of breed he raises. (Remember, A2 breeds include Jersey, Guernsey, Asian and African cows.)
Buying retail (in those states where raw milk sale is legal) would require just a little more work, since you'd have to get the contact information of the milk supplier and then call or write them to find out what breeds are used.
Fortunately, grass-fed, raw milk almost always comes from small dairy farms that do not co-mingle their milk with milk from other farms, so this makes ensuring you're buying A2 milk quite a bit easier.
You can start you search for raw milk retailers in the US by going to the RealMilk web site.
www.OrganicPastures.com also has a store locator for California.
(You can use the following hyperlinks to find out the legal status of raw milk in the U.S. state or country where you live.)
Yet another option is raw goat- and sheep's milk, as neither of them contains the harmful BCM-7.
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder and director of Mercola.com. Become a fan of Dr. Mercola on Facebook, on Twitter and check out Dr. Mercola's report on sun exposure!
Follow Dr. Joseph Mercola on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mercola
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When I was growing up we only drank raw milk. First from my grandmas (Guernsey) cows, and when she couldn't take care of cows anymore we bought from a neighbor. We thrived on it. If you know how the cows are being cared for I think that you need not be concerned about the scary raw milk stories.
and Raw Milk Advocates
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Dr. Mercola, as you know, contamination of raw milk with e.coli O157:H7 can cause severe food poisoning. The contamination occurs when the feces of dairy cattle that contain e.coli O157:H7 comes in contact with the milk. And while e.coli O157:H7 causes food poisoning to humans, it does not harm cattle. Recently, the USDA approved the use of a vaccine made by Epitopix. "Field trials of the Epitopix vaccine showed that 86% of vaccinated cattle stopped shedding O157:H7 bacteria in their feces. Of those that still were shedding bacteria, there was a 98% reduction in the amount, says Daniel Thomson" http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-02-08-beeftech08_CV_N.htm.
Using the vaccine would be an additional step taken by raw milk producers to enhance the safety of their product.
The question: Dr. Mercola, are you strongly recommending that raw milk producers vaccinate their dairy cattle to enhance the safety of their product?
It protects dairy cattle against the Newport strain of salmonella. This strain is harmful to cows as well as humans. It can exist in cows in subclinical levels, so it may not be noticed. Vaccination can increase milk production. So unlike an e.coli vaccination, which only benefits humans, a vaccination against s.Newport benefits the farmer as well as those who drink raw milk.
There have been recent outbreaks of s.Newport from drinking raw milk. It isn't as deadly as O157. The vaccine isn't that expensive . I found a website selling it for $120 for 50 doses. I think you need to vaccinate a few times each year. But even with the cost of a vet, it makes great sense for a raw milk producer.
I did the following search: site:realmilk.com cows vaccine OR vaccination "e.coli" OR salmonella OR Newportthe words vaccine and vaccination and newport. I found nothing suggesting the use of vaccines to enhance the safety of raw milk.
At raw milk central, www.westonaprice.org/ there are plenty of references to vaccines. But for vaccines for humans and they are against them. A similar site search produced no results.
This reminds of Age of Autism, where ideas that might 'confuse' their audience, never reach them.
I certainly hope no one takes this article at face value and looks into the issue for themselves...
"Living"
and
"Living in Fear" ...... of everything!
As stated by the great philosopher Homer Simpson, "It's funny because it's true."
Fanned.
In an age of exploding epidemics of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, autism, and poor health generally, a healthy dose of skepticism and concern about the food industry and arrogant corporate "scientists" is wise.
Please see this comment, I think you'll find it satisfactory.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/dairy-free-avoid-this-pop_b_558447.html?show_comment_id=49647595#comment_49647595
Thanks
sheldon101
P.S. Fanned
Pasteurization doesn't kill off any more nutrients in milk than actually cooking food does to any of the foods that a person is cooking. Heating milk to 162 degrees F for 15 seconds is enough to kill bacteria, but NOT decrease the milk's nutritional value.
I'm amazed that HuffPo continually allows these misleading and non-scientific articles to be reported as actual fact in the "living" section. If someone reads this article and becomes sick after switching to raw milk, could HuffPo be held liable?
Interesting. Could you please provide links to scientific studies showing this?
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As far as we know dairy cattle can't get autism, ASD or even autistic-like symptoms.
So there should be absolutely no reason why raw milk producers don't start taking advantage of the new e. coli vaccines for cattle as soon as they are fully approved by the USDA for use in dairy herds.
A Canadian developed vaccine has been fully approved for use in Canada. See http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/2010/03/articles/food-poisoning-information/canadian-cattle-producers-willing-to-make-changes-to-prevent-e-coli-o157-contamination-on-their-farms/
The cost per cow seems to be around $10.
Spread the good news.
But I'm not going to give you the answer. I've given you all you need to answer it for yourself in a couple of minutes. I thought this was so simple that the link is to more specialized information. Here's what you do. Follow the link. Ask yourself who is likely to have the information you want in a form you can understand and will also work better with a search engine. When I did that, I figured that the company making it would have the info. It does.
Of course, I worked this out 6 months ago.
are Too Strict
and the Best and Not the Best
1-
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Because raw milk isn't inherently safe, it better be produced under very specific and very high standards. But raw milk advocates are opposing state tightening the standards, even if only to the standards others states are successfully using. And they want states with higher standards to "adopt size-appropriate and cost-appropriate licensing requirements that would, if adopted, make it more feasible for micro dairies to become licensed. " http://www.realmilk.com/where5.html#wa (complaining about Washington state standards)
So we have the Weston A. Price Foundation president trying unsuccessfully to stop California from passing a law, that sets a maximum coliform level at 10/ml. http://www.townsendletter.com/July2009/rawmilk0709.html That's the Washington state standard, which the state enforces by monthly testing of the milk. There are a lot of other requirements. http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/Dairy/docs/rawmilktruth.pdf and
http://agr.wa.gov/Foodanimal/Dairy/docs/retailrawmilkguidelines.pdf.
So even though there are a number of dairies that meet this standard, including one that only milks 4 to 6 goats,http://warawmilk.com/jekuthiel.html raw milk advocates want lower standards/
The Best?
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Despite being licensed in Washington state, Jackie's Jersey Milk has had its problems. In February 2010, testing found coliform levels over the limit; The milk was recalled, but 6 people became ill.
In late May, 2 more people became sick after drinking milk from Jackie's. http://www.eatdrinkandbe.org/article/index.0528_bev_whatcom To be fair, Jackie's says:
" With today’s technology, the state has the ability to DNA test the e coli strains that made these people sick. The strain of e coli that made these two people sick did NOT show up in our milk...Although not required by the state, every batch of Jackie’s Jersey milk is tested to assure that we not only meet state requirements but exceed them. This extra testing costs our company approximately $1,000 per month. " http://www.jackiesjerseymilk.com/7.html
I don't know if not finding matching DNA in milk from their farm means it couldn't have come from there. I think the couple that own Jackie's are doing the very best they can, but people still got sick in February from their milk and may have got sick from their milk in May. And that's from a licensed dairy operating under what raw milk advocates say are too strict standards.
continued..
Not the Best
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On the other hand there are the nice people at Hartmann's Dairy in Minnesota. In the 1990s, they sold ---pasteurized --- organic milk to retail stores. "In 2001, the Hartmann farm lost its Grade A dairy license due to what state officials describe as "generally unsanitary conditions" in the milking parlor. "
So then they started selling raw milk. Without a license, they are allowed to only sell milk at their farm. When they were caught in a sting operation selling milk at a drop off point, the state didn't prosecute.
So, "Sanborn and Chan-Muehlbauer bought raw milk from Hartmann Dairy through a delivery system that appears common in raw milk circles. They paid Hartmann directly for milk and other food, which was dropped off weekly at a "depot" -- one customer's home -- where it was then distributed to other customers. There are about 15 to 20 families in their distribution group, and apparently multiple distribution depots.
Sanborn, Chan-Muehlbauer and two other members of their distribution group -- all of them professional, middle-class women with children -- elucidated a similar food world view. They shun traditional supermarkets, buying their food largely from coops, farmers markets and Hartmann's farm."
As I understand it, many raw milk advocates believe that buying the milk at the farm or through distribution groups is a good idea as it helps the consumer to 'know their farmer.'
continued...