Big differences between raw and pasteurized milk.

The Effects of Pasteurization on Humans and Animals and the Differences between Raw and Pasteurized Dairy.

We include milk in our diets not only because it tastes great, but also because we are told it is healthy for us.  Milk is fortified with vitamin C and D.  The calcium in it builds strong bones.  It is pasteurized to keep us safe from pathogens.  Pasteurization is a recent introduction to milk.  For thousands of years people drank milk completely fresh.  In fact, farmers still do.  Under Canadian law farmers are allowed to consume their own milk unpasteurized, but are unable to sell it that way.  The fear is that the consumption of unpasteurized milk by the populace could result in epidemics of salmonella, E. coli, and campylobacter.  The truth seems stranger than fiction sometimes.  Upon examining the statistics one finds that it is in fact pasteurized milk that has been at the center of these epidemics.

One such outbreak in 1985, cited by the Journal of the American Medical Association (Ryan CA et al, 1987) and six years later by the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC, 1993), was an outbreak of 197,000 cases.  There are thousands more recorded cases in at least another dozen outbreaks with other illnesses resulting from pasteurized milk. Pasteurization is based on the commonly accepted germ theory of disease.  Louis Pasteur is widely held as the originator of the theory.  His discovery of microbes as he viewed them through a microscope in 1878 provided a factual basis for the theory.  To this day doctors are educated that bacteria, viruses, and parasites, collectively called pathogens, are primarily responsible for disease.  Steeped in this doctrine, the medical community employs methods designed to attack the microbes.  Antibiotics are the weapons of choice for doctors to treat existing conditions.  Vaccinations are provided as preventative measures.  They are not without their side effects.  Alarmingly, some treatments have the opposite of the intended effect, such as the polio vaccine.  Aajonus Vonderplanitz, a nutritional therapist, quotes Dr. William F. Koch, M.D., Ph.D in his book We Want To Live (Vonderplanitz, 1997) as saying "The injection of any serum, vaccine or even penicillin has shown a very marked increase in the incidence of polio - at least 400%.  Statistics are so conclusive no one can deny it." (p. 268).  People are afraid of bacterial food poisoning and so deem it necessary to pasteurize milk.  What we see from medical reports (Vonderplanitz, 2002) is that most cases of food-poisoning shown signs of anaphylaxis, a "severe allergic reaction to anything, usually medication." (p. 173). Recent evidence shows that pasteurized milk causes chronic constipation in children. (Iacono G., Cavataio F., Montalto G. et al., 1998) Aajonus (Vonderplanitz, 2002) wrote: "Most medical doctors have studied 0 to 16 hours of nutrition in premedical and medical school." (p. 162). By attacking the microbes, and by pasteurizing our milk we see a rise in disease.  Modern medicine seems ill equipped to be fighting this uphill battle.

Louis Pasteur, who initially developed pasteurization to extend the shelf life of wine, gained a lot of popularity.  His germ theory of disease, pasteurization, and vaccination theoretically fit together very soundly.  In his time, a contemporary of his, Antoine Bechamp, had simultaneously developed a theory of disease.  Pasteur's theory (Vonderplanitz, 2002) was that diseases "originate from constant types of microbes attacking the body from outside," while Bechamp "claimed that disease originates from within the body because of the destruction of cellular integrity by toxic food and pollution.  He contended that all microbes were beneficial, some for cleansing, some for maintenance and others for regeneration, but that none were responsible for causing disease." (p. 161) Pasteur armed the medical profession with weapons (pasteurization, vaccines) to fight disease, while Bechamp seemed to take them away.  Economically speaking, the medical field could have potentially disintegrated if it was discovered that people simply had to consume more pathogens and fewer toxins to stay healthy.  Naturally, Pasteur and his theory became prominent.  It was not until he was on his deathbed that Pasteur conceded that Bechamp was right.  His dying words, recorded in a plethora of reports, and quoted here from (Vonderplanitz, 2002) were: "Pathogens are not the problem.  The environment in which and on which pathogens feed is the problem of disease." (p. 162).  We have truly been living a lie, for over a century.

In the spirit of Bechamp, Aajonus Vonderplanitz (2002) provides us with a concise description of the nature of pathogens. "'Pathogens' are to the body what vultures, crows and ants are to the Earth. They are a few of the Earth's janitors.  They find carcasses and eat them. Without the Earth's janitors, our air would be in jeopardy of becoming toxic gas in which animals could not thrive. 'Pathogens' are our bodies' helpful, organic, inner-ecological recycling organisms that help us thrive." (p. 178).  Vonderplanitz has treated over three thousand patients using this theory of disease.  Two hundred and thirty nine people have come to him (Vonderplanitz, 1997) with cancer. Only three of those cases did not successfully go in to remission. (p. 185) Two of those three cases were too advanced and made only some progress before they died. (p. 186). In the case of cancer, the treatments of the medical industry have a surprisingly low success rate.  According to Vonderplanitz (2002), only 17% of patients will live further than 5 years from radiation or chemotherapy (p. 163).  In a letter to the editor of Health Science Magazine in February of 1999, Dr. Elnora Van Winkle, a retired biochemical neuroscientist from the Department of Psychiatry at New York University's School of Medicine, she wrote that pathogens are for the clean-up of degenerative conditions. It is up to us to accept that destroying cells and microbes in our bodies is the equivalent of SCUBA divers taking off their oxygen tanks at deep-sea depths.

Vonderplanitz (2002) explains pasteurization to be the process of flash heating a liquid to 60 degrees Celsius (p. 82).  A result of pasteurization and homogenization, Vonderplanitz says in his earlier book (1997, p. 152), is that people get "dry and coarse hair, skin and glands, and brittle bones that can easily break." In his book The Milk Book; How Science Is Destroying Nature's Nearly Perfect Food, Dr. William Campbell Douglass Jr., MD (1996) details the story of Destin.  As a child he suffered from asthma, was frail, and grew to an underdeveloped and small size for his age.  By treating him with raw milk, Dr. Douglass reversed his asthma within six weeks and Destin grew normally thenceforward. (p. 204).  The risk to infants who ingest pasteurized milk is great. Vonderplanitz (2002) wrote, "One of every five babies suffers colic.  Pediatricians learned in the early 1900s that pasteurized cow's milk was often the reason." (p. 181).  Colic is only one of many illnesses that babies are vulnerable to and it alone occurs in 20% of all infants.  When infants return to raw milk, the colic goes away. 

Non organic milk contains unnatural hormones.  These hormones were designed to make cows produce more milk.  A side effect of these hormones is to make them anxious.  These genetically modified hormones are then passed on to humans who drink the milk (Vonderplanitz, 1997, p. 152).  Women are especially at risk.  Studies done on animals show that "one or both breasts may overdevelop," and for nursing mothers, symptoms such as spontaneous lactation, an overproduction of milk, or even trouble stopping lactation may result (Vonderplanitz, 1997, p. 152).  Additionally, other side effects "have been swollen and overdeveloped thyroids, causing thick necks, especially in females."  He then poses the question of whether there were any women on the team that developed the hormone.  Consuming non-organic milk poses health risks. 

On page 185 of his book, the Recipe for Living Without Disease, Aajonus Vonderplanitz (2002) provides statistics dating from 1945 to 1997 on outbreaks of food poisoning that are the direct result of consumption of pasteurized milk.  Milk that is lacking its enzymes and lactic acid and is so toxic, that it is often filled with pathogenic activity by the time it reaches the store shelf.  Regulations allow the dairy industry to measure the microbial counts in milk at the processing plant rather than at the point of sale.  Here are some "highlights". In 1945, there were a total of 1,492 cases in the USA of food poisoning.  Another 468 cases and 9 deaths occurred from gastroenteritis after consuming pasteurized milk in Great Bend, Kansas. In 1978, there were 17,000 cases of yersinia enterocolitica in Memphis, Tennessee. 1984 and 1985 a total of three separate outbreaks of S. typhimurium occurred from the same plant totaling more than 16,500 cases in Melrose Park, Illinois.  In California we have the case mentioned earlier of 197,000 cases of "anti-microbial resistant Salmonella infections" in 1985 (Vonderplanitz, 2002, p. 185).  The list goes on.  We see microbes becoming pathogenic in activity when they are in a toxic environment.  Imagine the toxic environment to be a human body, and the implications are astounding.  These milk cases show Bechamp's theory of microbes as scavengers feeding on decaying tissue in full swing.

There is a genuine concern among people for the intake of fat and cholesterol. Milk is a concern because it contains both.  A person who consumes pasteurized milk can gain weight and can build up cholesterol in their arteries.  Vonderplanitz (2002) observed that the heated fat and cholesterol from pasteurized milk are indeed dangerous.  They build up in the body, cause osteoporosis, and hardening of the arteries (p. 157). Cooking bacon in a frying pan and leaving the pan to cool down is an example of what happens to cooked fat. After some time the fat cools and becomes hard and white.  This is what occurs with fat and cholesterol that has been heated by the pasteurization process.  In the arteries, the heated cholesterol sticks to the walls and overtime becomes unable to exchange ions, ultimately hardening and building up in layers (Vonderplanitz, 2002 p. 157).  Heart attacks result. Fat that is not cholesterol will build up on the body and retain water and toxins.  These toxins then leech back in to the bloodstream causing a host of other illnesses, such as migraines.  Further more, raw fat does not harden. It flows around the body in the blood stream.  The fears of fat and cholesterol are not unfounded, only misplaced.

In 1942 the Federal Sea Agency reported (Proc. Nat. Nut. Conf. 1942) that a cow could produce as much Vitamin C in a year as a citrus crop and that pasteurization destroyed most of it (p. 176). Raw milk can be used to cure scurvy.  Commonly accepted is the view that in our society many people are lactose intolerant.  True lactose intolerance is the inability to digest the milk sugar lactose and occurs in only a small fraction of the population, according to Vonderplanitz (1997, p.151).  He goes on to say that those individuals can safely consume raw cheese and raw butter because they contain very little lactate.  The allergic reaction to milk reported by many is to pasteurized milk.  It was none other than Hippocrates who cured tuberculosis by giving patients raw milk.  In the early twentieth century raw milk was blamed for tuberculosis. 

Vonderplanitz (2002, p. 35) discusses the importance of drinking raw milk to satisfy their thirst since "Raw food contains from 55% to 92% H2O that is 92-100% cellularly utilizable."  He personally drinks 2 quartz of raw milk and 1 1/2 quarts of green vegetable juices per day.  Furthermore, Vonderplanitz goes on to explain that people typically are not dehydrated, but rather delipidated, or "deficient in the raw fats that can properly lubricate us.  Our thirst is more for raw fat than for H2O." (2002, p. 35)  Moreover, he says that those who consume "processed drinks and water, evaporate 2 quarts of water during the night," while a person consuming raw "milk and vegetable juices may evaporate only 2 pints."  Most of us who are health minded pursue a lean diet without completely understanding the implications of its effects.  Vonderplanitz (2002, p. 38) says, "Low body-fat levels only allow for basal metabolism and no deep cleansing." For most people, their bodies are unable to regenerate sufficiently, and so we often here of people who have been runners for many years suffering from knee damage.  Often arthritis builds and the sinovial fluid is lost.  The lubricating qualities of raw fat can return joints to normal and allow a runner to continue doing so for the rest of his life.

It is not only heating that can damage raw milk.  Proteins and sugars from chilled milk says Vonderplanitz (2002, p. 36) "may pass into the blood undigested and cause allergic reactions."  It is best to warm the milk to room temperature for at least 5 hours, to aid digestion, he adds.  Additionally, for proper digestion, raw milk needs the digestive tract to be acidic, rather than alkaline (Vonderplanitz, 2002, p. 36).  Vegetables create an alkaline environment in the digestive tract; while meat creates an acidic environment. Milk should be consumed in its full-fat form.  Specifically, 20% of raw milk from the cow is fat (Vonderplanitz, 1997, p. 151-2).  It is advisable to consume only milk that has been unadulterated in order to gain its full health benefits.

Raw cheeses provide the body with a concentration of minerals.  When eaten with raw butter, they act as a "sponge to absorb toxins." (Vonderplanitz, 1997, p. 142).  Raw Cream and full-fat raw milk are useful for a range of applications within the body.  Vonderplanitz (1997, p. 147) wrote that the fat can be used to lubricate nerves, muscles, the heart, the liver, restore moisture to the thyroid gland, and heal intestinal lesions from dryness.  Furthermore, raw butter fat "strengthens organs and glands, heals eyes, and cleanses arteries," he wrote.  Raw dairy provides us with the necessary tools to heal and rebuild our bodies.

In many states it is still legal to sell raw milk, but it is illegal to ship it across state borders.  However, regulations are attempted with increasing frequency to outlaw the sale of raw milk in many states.  The evidence being used to show the dangers of milk is from statistics using pasteurized milk.  Without a clear understanding between of the differences between raw and cooked, the health board officials may vote to take away the choice of raw milk.  In Canada it is already illegal to sell raw milk.  Farmers are allowed to drink it, so one has to ask where the concern is for the safety of those who give us the milk?  Pointing fingers at the dairy industry for trying to extend shelf life is unproductive.  Suffice it to say that making the choices that we do based on economics rather than health is sending us down a road we do not want to go. The law can be changed in Canada.  A form must be submitted to the federal and provincial governments proving that raw milk is safe.  Once that is shown, there is nothing anybody can do to stop it from becoming legalized.  The problems are that statistics have been misconstrued, and people have assumed that raw is the same as pasteurized.

That which initially appeared to be a good way to prevent disease, pasteurization, ultimately became the cause of a plethora of afflictions, from bacterial related illness, to scurvy.  It is also ironic that milk, promoted to be a preventative agent to osteoporosis, is in fact the catalyst for the disease, when pasteurized.  In our world, this serves as a healthy reminder that science exists in paradigms.  Eventually, scientists are always sent back to the drawing board when their paradigm is crumbling around them and opposing evidence is no longer deniable.  As history has shown, it is people like Galileo, who, with an altruistic devotion to truth, bring the scientific community to a new paradigm, at the risk of their careers or even their lives.

REFERENCES CITED:

Douglass, Wm. Campbell Jr. (1996). The Milk Book; How Science Is Destroying     Nature's Nearly Perfect Food. Georgia: Second Opinion Publishing.

Iacono,    G., Cavataio F., Montalto G., et al. (1998). Intolerance of cow's milk and chronic     constipation in children. N Engl J Med: New England Journal of Medicine, 339,
110-4.

(1993) CDC. Outbreaks of Salmonella enteritidis gastroenteritis -- California. MMWR:     Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 42, 793-7.

Ryan,    C.A., Nickels, M.K., Hargrett-Bean, N.T., Potter, M.E., Endo, T., Mayer, L.,     Langkop, C.W., Gibson, C., McDonald, R.C., Kenney, R.T. (1987). Massive     outbreak of  antimicrobial-resistant salmonellosis traced to pasteurized milk.     JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 258, 3269-74.

Vonderplanitz, A. (1997).  We Want To Live. Santa Monica: Carnelian Bay Castle Press,     LLC.

Vonderplanitz, A. (2002).  The Recipe for Living Without Disease. Los Angeles:     Carnelian Bay Castle Press, LLC.