“Raw milk is real milk.”
We say this often, and even boast shirts with the saying, but what does it truly mean?
Raw milk is nature’s perfect super food. Cows naturally provide probiotics, fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals through their milk. And for every nutritional benefit in milk, there is a partnering enzyme that helps you digest and properly absorb it into your body.
Milk naturally contains vitamins A, D, E, K2, C, all the B vitamins (especially B12 & B6) along with all twenty-two essential minerals including calcium, iron and folate. Nutrient levels will vary from cow to cow depending on her breed, genetics, mineral access and food intake. Cows raised on dense pasture with open access to diverse grasses typically have higher nutrient values than those kept in a milking barn and fed strictly hay or a feed ration.
The butterfat, or cream, in raw milk is action packed with all eighteen fatty acids, both saturated and unsaturated. These fats improve skin and gut function, construct cell membranes and hormones, and also help regulate the metabolic system. The conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, found in raw cream is a potential cancer treatment alternative and has even helped with side effects from traditional treatment. One of the reasons we chose Guernsey cows for our herd is because of their higher levels of beta-carotene which can also be beneficial to cancer patients.
We call all of these benefits bio-available nutrients because they are created naturally by the cow and absorbed by us through consumption of their milk and milk products. But when milk undergoes the process of pasteurization these digestion friendly enzymes become inactive and the nutrients are damaged or destroyed, resulting in the inability to easily absorb the very nutrients that we’ve been conditioned to associate with milk, like calcium.
During pasteurization milk is heated to at least 145 degrees (vat or low pasteurization) and can reach up to 275 degrees (ultra pasteurization). Yet any temperature over 140 degrees begins to break down the nutrients in the milk. The chart below from The Raw Milk Institute shows which nutrients are available or destroyed through pasteurization:
For more information on how pasteurization came about, check out this blog on the history of milk.
Through epidemiological studies, the consumption of raw milk (especially within the first few years of life) has been correlated to lower rates of: asthma, allergies, eczema, ear infections, fevers and respiratory infections. We’ve grown accustomed to being concerned about children who consume raw milk, yet breastmilk is the original raw milk given to babies at birth. You can read more about the specific studies on raw milk benefits from RAWMI under “Findings.”
When sourced from a farm with good animal husbandry, clean milking practices, and careful temperature regulation along with bottling, raw milk can be a wonderful source of nutrients. And to think we’ve just scratched the surface on the true benefits of nature’s perfect food!
*As always, raw milk is only available for animal consumption in the state of Alabama.