All outbreaks of salmonella from contaminated milk in recent decades–and there have been many–have occurred in pasteurized milk. This includes a 1985 outbreak in Illinois that struck 14,316 people, causing at least one death. The salmonella strain in that batch of pasteurized milk was found to be genetically resistant to both penicillin and tetracycline. Raw milk contains lactic-acid-producing bacteria that protect against pathogens. Pasteurization destroys these helpful organisms, leaving the finished product devoid of any protective mechanism should undesirable bacteria inadvertently contaminate the supply. Raw milk in time turns pleasantly sour while pasteurized milk, lacking beneficial bacteria, will putrefy.
Can’t Take the Heat?
But that’s not all that pasteurization does to milk. Heat alters milk’s
amino acids lysine and tyrosine, making the whole complex of proteins less
available; it promotes rancidity of unsaturated fatty acids and destruction
of vitamins. Vitamin C loss in pasteurization usually exceeds 50 percent;
loss of other water-soluble vitamins can run as high as 80 percent; the
Wulzen or anti-stiffness factor is totally destroyed. Pasteurization alters
milk’s mineral components such as calcium, chlorine, magnesium, phosphorus,
potassium, sodium and sulphur as well as many trace minerals, making them
less available. There is some evidence that pasteurization alters lactose,
making it more readily absorbable.
This, and the fact that pasteurized milk puts an unnecessary strain on the
pancreas to produce digestive enzymes, may explain why milk consumption in
civilized societies has been linked with diabetes.
Last but not least, pasteurization destroys all the enzymes in milk–in fact,
the test for successful pasteurization is absence of enzymes.
These enzymes help the body assimilate all bodybuilding factors, including
calcium. That is why those who drink pasteurized milk may suffer,
nevertheless, from osteoporosis. Lipase in raw milk helps the body digest
and utilize butterfat. After pasteurization, chemicals may be added to
suppress odor and restore taste. Synthetic vitamin D2 or D3
is added–the former is toxic and has been linked to heart disease while the
latter is difficult to absorb. The final indignity is homogenization, which
has also been linked to heart disease.
Powdered skim milk is added to the most popular varieties of commercial
milk–one-percent and two-percent milk. Commercial dehydration methods
oxidize cholesterol in powdered milk, rendering it harmful to the arteries.
High temperature drying also creates large quantities of nitrate compounds,
which are potent carcinogens.
Modern pasteurized milk, devoid of its enzyme content, puts an enormous
strain on the body’s digestive mechanism. In the elderly, and those with
milk intolerance or inherited weaknesses of digestion, this milk passes
through not fully digested. These large particles can clog the tiny villi of
the small intestine, preventing the absorption of vital nutrients and
promoting the uptake of toxic substances. The result is allergies, chronic
fatigue and a host of degenerative diseases.
Hunt for the Source
All the healthy milk-drinking populations studied by Dr Weston Price
subsisted on raw milk, raw cultured milk or raw cheese from normal animals
eating fresh grass or fodder. It is very difficult to find this kind of milk
in America. In California and Georgia, raw milk was formerly available in
health food stores. Intense harassment by state sanitation authorities has
all but driven raw milk from the market in these states, in spite of the
fact that it is technically legal. Even when available, this milk suffers
from the same drawbacks as most supermarket milk–it comes from
freak-pituitary cows, often raised in crowded barns on inappropriate feed.
[Editor’s note: all milk sold or given away in Canada must be pasteurized.]
In some states you can buy raw milk at the farm. If you can find a farmer
who will sell you raw milk from old fashioned Jersey or Guernsey cows,
allowed to feed on fresh pasturage, then by all means avail yourself of this
source. Some stores now carry pasteurized, but not homogenized, milk from
cows raised on natural feed. This milk may be used to make cultured milk
products such as kefir, yoghurt, cultured buttermilk and cultured cream.
Traditionally cultured buttermilk, which is low in casein but high in lactic
acid, is often well tolerated by those with milk allergies, and gives
excellent results when used to soak whole grain flours for baking. If you
cannot find good quality raw milk, you should limit your consumption of milk
products to cultured milk, cultured buttermilk, whole milk yoghurt, butter,
cream and raw cheeses. Raw cheese ia available in all states. Much imported
cheese is raw–look for the words "milk" or "fresh milk" on the label–and of
very high quality.
Source: Reprinted from Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that
Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats,
available from NewTrends Publishing.
Milk Medicine
Butterfat has a cortisone-like factor which is destroyed by heat that
prevents stiffness in the joints. Raw milk contains beneficial bacteria as
well as lactic acids that allow these beneficial bacteria to implant in the
intestines. All of these qualities are lost during pasteurization. Once
heated, milk becomes rotten with precipitated minerals that can’t be
absorbed (hence osteoporosis), sugars that can’t be digested (hence
allergies), and fats that are toxic.
Raw milk has been used as a therapy in folk medicine–and even in the Mayo
Clinic for centuries. It has been used in the pre-insulin days to treat
diabetes (I’ve tried it–it works), as well as eczema, intestinal worms,
allergies and arthritis, all for reasons which can be understood when we
realize just what milk is.