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It seems that our governments are trying to either ban or regulate anything that is natural to such an extent that it is impossible for some to even purchase these products. Raw milk is a perfect example of a product that isn’t available to most people. When asked the question whether organic raw milk is safe to drink most will reply that it is not. But is that really true?
Reports that sellers of raw milk have been getting raided by SWAT-style gun-carrying enforcement agents in America would suggest that this product is indeed unsafe.
This view is contradicted by my own research into the safety of this product. In fact what I have found out has convinced me that not only is raw milk safe but it is actually better for you than the processed milk that nearly everybody seems to use.
A study by GSCE students for the BBC programme ‘Countryfile’ produced some interesting results. Three petri dishes were prepared, one containing UHT (long life) milk, one with pasteurized and one with raw milk and all left open to the atmosphere. Nothing grew on the UHT sample, it could not support life. Only good bacteria grew on the raw sample, and only bad bacteria grew on the pasteurized one. Why? Well, in the pasteurized sample, the good bacteria once in it were now all dead, leaving a good substrate ripe for invasion by whatever bacteria were around in the atmosphere, whereas with the raw sample, the good bacteria still in the milk repelled any bacteria that tried to invade.
This would seem to go against what institutions such as the FSA (The Food Standards Agency) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and other official health bodies would have us believe. Raw milk has to carry a cigarette-style health warning and cannot be sold in supermarkets or health shops.
While the selling of raw milk is banned in many of the states in America, twenty-eight U.S. states do not prohibit sales of raw milk. Cow shares can be found, and raw milk purchased for animal consumption in many states where retail sale for human consumption is prohibited.
While in the UK it can still be sold by farmers. Current Regulations in place in the UK means that any sellers of raw milk must go through rigorous safety procedures to ensure the safety of the product. With the right safety procedures in place I cannot find any reason why the selling of raw milk should be banned or regulated to the point where it is not available to most people.
Studies have in fact shown that there are actually many benefits in drinking raw milk over pasteurized. While drinking raw milk gives all the benefits of pasteurized milk it also has many more as shown in the list below.
The protein is not denatured (physically altered in shape) as is the case once pasteurized (heat-treated), and is therefore fully available and able to be metabolised by the body
Cholesterol is not heat-treated and remains in its natural state as good cholesterol that the body can metabolise and use. Once milk cholesterol is heat-treated, it is altered into a form the body cannot deal with, so the body produces more of its own cholesterol to deal with this ‘bad’ cholesterol. It has been shown in the U.S. that raw milk lowers blood cholesterol, whereas pasteurized milk increases blood cholesterol.
All the good bacteria are still present and help with gut action and digestion. It is also possible that these good bacteria also help fight bacterial infection within the body
All the enzymes in raw milk are still present. Some people are lactose intolerant, which means they cannot digest lactose milk sugar as they themselves do not produce lactase enzyme. This is the enzyme needed to help digest lactose sugar. Raw milk contains lactase and therefore helps digest lactose, and deal with that intolerance. Lactase is just one enzyme found in raw milk. There are others too. All these wonderful enzymes are killed by pasteurisation.
It has been shown that raw milk helps to fight eczema, hay fever, allergies and asthma.
These are just some of the benefits that have been found with the consumption of raw milk. As for the safety concerns of raw milk, there is no guarantee that pasteurized milk will not become contaminated after the pasteurisation process.
In my opinion it seems that the more control the government has over what we can eat and buy the worse our health becomes. Studies have shown that smoking, alcohol consumption and poor diet are the main causes of cancer. Yet amazingly while products like raw milk have been banned or have been made impossible for most to purchase, the tobacco industry thrives. This despite the fact that smoking tops the table of cancer causes.
Anyone living in the UK who wants to try organic raw milk can get it delivered from Hook and Son who also supplied much of the information used in this article.
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