The Trouble With Pasteurised Milk
After 10,000 years of humans drinking and thriving on raw milk straight from the udder, we suddenly decided in the late 19th century that we would be better off heating (pasteurising) milk to kill potential pathogenic bacteria in the milk.
But pasteurising milk damages several health boosting components in milk, such as the following:
Kills Beneficial Probiotic Bacteria In Milk
By pasteurizing milk, you not only kill any potential bad bacteria (which aren’t always present in milk), you also kill beneficial probiotic bacteria in milk that are known to improve gut health and confer multiple health benefits, including reduced whole-body inflammation, improved immune response, reduced lactose intolerance, improved bowel movement, reduced allergy development, and reduced blood pressure (Quigley, 2013).
Denatures Bioactive Proteins And Peptides In Milk
Milk also contains healthful bioactive proteins and peptides (components of proteins), which are reduced in number and denatured (damaged) by pasteurisation.
These bioactive proteins and peptides stimulate the immune system, inhibit cancer growth, kill dangerous microorganisms, reduce blood pressure, boost the absorption of minerals (especially calcium), and inhibit platelet aggregation (important in the prevention of heart disease) (Hans, 2005).
All of these effects depend heavily on the structural integrity of these peptides, which means that these health boosting effects are absent when the peptides are denatured.
Denatures Important Enzymes In Milk
Milk also contains enzymes that boost your health via multiple different mechanisms. They for example:
- Help us digest the milk (e.g. the enzyme lactase helps digest lactose. The enzyme lipase helps digest fats).
- Help us absorb the nutrients from milk (e.g. the enzyme phosphatase helps assimilate calcium).
- Improve the anti-oxidant capacity of milk (e.g. the enzyme catalase breaks down the oxidising agent hydrogen peroxide).
There are more than 60 different enzymes in milk that we know of, and most of these enzymes are either completely or partially destroyed by pasteurisation.
In fact, reduced enzyme activity has been used as a marker for successful pasteurisation since the 1930's, particularly of the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (ALP).
ALP was chosen because the time–temperature conditions required to inactivate ALP are slightly higher than those required to kill the most heat resistant pathogens in milk. That's how they came to the minimum treatment of milk to be set at 71.7°C for 15 seconds in the UK.
But like other enzymes in milk, ALP has multiple health benefits. A recent 2019 study found that raw milk given to mice had the protective effect of suppressing food allergic symptoms. Pasteurised milk was not protective, but adding ALP restored the allergy-protective effect.
ALP from raw milk consumption is also known to have anti-inflammatory effects. Intestinal ALP improves gut barrier function; inhibits the growth of bad bacteria and encourages the growth of friendly bacteria in the gut (Bilski, 2017); and may be protective against the development of type II diabetes.
Reduces Levels Of Anti-Inflammatory Omega 3 Fatty Acids In Milk
And as if its effects on healthful bacteria, bioactive peptides, and enzymes weren't enough, pasteurisation also has a negative effect on the fat portion of milk. One study found an inverse relationship between the level of omega 3 fatty acids and the intensity of processing of milk, with raw farm milk having the highest level of anti-inflammatory omega 3, and pasteurised homogenised milk having the lowest levels.
Reduces Levels Of Heat Sensitive Vitamins In Milk
Many important vitamins in milk are also not heat stable. Vitamin B2, folate, and vitamin C levels are lower in pasteurised milk than in raw milk. In one study, pasteurisation of cow’s milk lead to a 40% reduction in vitamin C levels.
What About Ultra High Temperature (UHT) Pasteurised Milk?
UHT milk – the stuff on the non refrigerated shelves at the shops, the stuff in those small milk pots that come with coffee machines – is much worse.
Click here to find out why you should never drink UHT milk.
What Do The Studies Say About Raw Milk?
There is a lack of studies looking directly at the effect of pasteurised vs. unpasteurised (raw) milk on diseases like arthritis, cancer, heart disease, and metabolic disease. The most studied diseases in this respect are asthma, allergies, and respiratory infections in children.
Multiple scientific studies have found that raw milk has a protective effect on asthma, allergies, and respiratory infections in children, while pasteurised milk does not (Abbring, 2019; Sozanska, 2019). This is thought to be due to the bioactive components in raw milk that are destroyed by heat – the bacteria, proteins, peptides, enzymes, and others; and also due to raw milk having a better omega 3 to 6 ratio than pasteurised and homogenised milk.
Given what we know about the anti-inflammatory and health boosting components of milk that are damaged by pasteurisation; how raw milk is protective against inflammatory conditions like asthma and allergies while pasteurised milk is not; the countless positive testimonials from millions of people who drink raw milk; it's highly likely that raw milk will have a much better effect on your health than pasteurised milk.
People Have A Much Better Experience Drinking Raw Milk
A lot of people have trouble digesting pasteurised milk, they can’t drink pasteurized milk without stomach upset, diarrhoea, and other acute symptoms. Millions of these people report complete cessation of symptoms when drinking raw milk.
I personally never had any overt digestive problems from drinking shop-bought milk. I grew up on the stuff, I had it in my cereal for breakfast and in my tea, I would drink it by the glass-full every night before bed. But what I did notice later in life, was that drinking pasteurised milk from the shops was increasing my mucus production, making my asthma much worse, inflaming my arthritic knee, and making me fat.
I first learned (incorrectly) that ALL dairy was bad, so I quit all dairy, and my asthma, mucus production, and painful knee and lower back, all got significantly better.
Then I discovered raw milk, and my mucus production, knee, back, and asthma got even better than when I was having NO dairy.
Most of the studies show that full fat milk and dairy is good for most people, even the pasteurised, homogenised, heavily processed stuff from the shops. It doesn't for me, but for most people, it reduces inflammation, may reduce bodyweight, may protect against heart disease and type II diabetes, and may help protect against cancer.
But the science on dairy is conflicting. It's conflicting because different people respond to dairy in different ways, and also because there are so many different types of dairy. The standard milk and dairy you get at the shops are the least likely to be of benefit, while the best forms of dairy, which you don't find in the shops, are most likely to be of benefit.
Shop-bought milk definitely affected me in a bad way. If you believe shop-bought milk is affecting you badly, then you should definitely give raw milk a try, you might find it does less harm, no harm at all, or even benefits you. If you believe shop-bought milk is affecting you in a good way, then you should still give raw milk a shot, because it’s likely to have an even better effect on your health.
Sure, there are no big double blind randomised controlled trials comparing the effects of raw vs. pasteurised milk on our health, and based on this fact alone, almost every doctor in this country would simply dismiss raw milk, saying “there is no evidence raw milk is any better than pasteurised milk”. But just because the studies haven’t been done, isn’t proof that raw milk isn't any better. Given what we know – given that we know raw milk contains health boosting probiotic bacteria; undamaged health boosting bioactive peptides; enzymes that aid digestion, enhance nutrient absorption, and improve anti-oxidant capacity of milk; higher levels of anti-inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids; and higher levels of healthful vitamins, then isn’t it worth at least giving raw milk a try and seeing for yourself what it does for your health?
If you're ready to get started on raw milk, click here to discover where you can buy raw milk in the UK.
Click here if you're concerned about the safety of raw milk.
If you can't get raw milk where you are, or you prefer to stick to pasteurised milk, click here to see where you can find the healthiest pasteurised milks in the UK.