LACTOSE INTOLERANCE

The ability to utilize milk as a source of food depends upon the organism's ability to metabolize lactose. A large portion of the world's population lacks this ability, especially the Southeastern Asians, American Indians, Chinese, Japanese, and many Black cultures of Africa. Robert McCracken believes this deficiency is one of a genetic origin; the ability of populations to metabolize lactose, or the inability to do so, is due to natural selection. It is noted that where milk is not a major part of the diet the incidence of lactose intolerance is very high. Specific examples would be the Baganda, who have a low tolerance (their diet is mainly bananas), and the Bahima tribe, who use from two to seven pints of milk daily and little else, whose lactose intolerance is very low. A.E. Davis and T.D. Bolin think that the differences in ability to metabolize lactose is an acquired, rather than a genetic defect.

The Chinese regard the use of milk with disgust and aversion; a comparable attitude is that of the Americans with regard to the use of blood as a food or beverage. With reference to milk, the Chinese attitude may be due to the fact that it makes them sick due to their inability to metabolize lactose, and therefore it has a physiological basis, although generally attitudes toward foods are entirely culturally determined.

These are good and relevant questions, and I'll tell you what I know. I did not grow up on raw dairy even though it was available just across the road from where we lived. I did not like milk because it made my stomach hurt and was constantly urged to "drink your milk". However, I absolutely loved cream and would eat butter plain right out of its dish. Knowing what I do now about dairy foods, I surmise my growing body was starving for the essential fatty acids those foods are so rich in.

I think 'lactose intolerance' is a catch-all term these days because so many folks do not digest processed dairy products. See my subsequent post on this topic.
In my own case, it was the issue of being unable to process the bonded(cooked), almost impossible to digest casein protein in pasteurized milk. This may also be true in your case. One way to find this out at home is to search out some yogurt, buttermilk or kefir made from farm fresh organic and unpasteurized milk from pastured cows. (http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/) Try consuming 2-4 oz. by itself with no flavoring – I predict it will be satisfying and cause you no digestive or other difficulties. When this happens you will have the confidence to gradually increase the amount of cultured dairy and then find a good source of raw milk so you can easily make your own yogurt etc.

A few organic producers in states that prohibit any unpasteurized products sell milk and cream that are, equally importantly, unhomogenized (http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/homogenization.html) and small "batch pasteurized". This process is far less destructive of the protein and allows more nutrients to remain; it gently brings milk to "scald" and keeps it there to meet minimum state requirements. Dairies that do this advertise it on the label; your health food store may be able to help you find some. Avoid ultra-pasteurized at all costs; it will really aggravate your allergy issues while doing dirt to many other systems of your body that you are won't be aware of until later in life and probably won't even connect to this issue.

Soy liquids do not deserve the term milk! Most soy today – and soy is all pervasive throughout our food system — is GMO (genetically modified)besides being a super processed sweetened and flavored form of indigestible bean juice with plant estrogens particularly harmful for children.
http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstruths/mtsoy.html

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share this information with WWOF readers. Please come back to tell us how it goes with you.

Lynn

laura v

In talking with as many old-timers as I can, I have learned that some careful homemakers did actually batch pasteurize (Scald, never boil)their farm fresh milk when it was to be used plain, cold and fresh as a beverage – particularly when young children or the elderly were consuming it. They did this as insurance in their own dairies and especially when it came from a source they didn't know. Of course, boiled milk is an old fashioned remedy for dysentery and diarrhea.

If the cream was not to be used for making butter, they would allow it to rise and skim it off generously – this was called Top Milk, the equivalent of today's light cream, I suppose. This was used in heated sauces, gravies, custards, puddings, in hot beverages and on porridge. The butterfat remaining in the milk is still enough for it to be richly satisfying as a stand-alone beverage, and the gentle heating/holding at just below boiling effectively protected against milk-born pathogens which may have been in the milk in the days of hand-milking, few disinfectants but 20-Mule Team Borax, and no refrigeration. The milk was transferred to glass bottles that had been rinsed with boiling water and chilled as well as possible or drunk within 24 hours.

I advise this course of action for those that may be unsure of the milking conditions where they buy their raw milk to give peace of mind. This process is nowhere near as destructive as ultra-pasteurization or even regular factory pasteurizing. It kills ALL bacteria and enzymes, but still retains so much that makes farm fresh dairy products tasty and nutritious.

Lynn

A National Raw Milk Use and Safety Summit was held in 2006 at Norfolk, Nebraska. Their very readable findings are available upon request from foods@aromavital.com and they are happy for anyone who asks for this pdf file to have it. Four categories were addressed — science, farmer, consumer and 6 full pages of referenced resources.

I must reiterate how important it is that the consumer have first-hand knowledge of the dairy farm where their milk is produced — most particularly where unpasteurized milk is concerned. Pay attention to cleanliness in the dairy and provide your own containers if they will allow it. Are the cows primarily pastured, and are they treated humanely? Does the farmer do frequent bacterial counts and keep records? Unpasteurized milk from factory farms (CAFOs) is definitely not safe to drink because the “clean”, “health”, and humane standards for those unfortunate herds are woefully low.

Cornucopia's dairy survey page is where you can find a national organic dairy scorecard and see how your brand of dairy measures up. The Cornucopia Institute promotes justice for family scale farming, and humane animal conditions are of prime importance in their ethics.

Hooray for California’s Proposition 3 that passed this month; it is a triumph for the Humane Society’s organization nationally and for all California animals. Hopefully it will be as a beacon for other states to enact similar regulations for sanitary and humane conditions for factory and all farm animals. Generally, small sustainable farms need far less regulation regarding humane and comfortable conditions for their stock because they utilize their products in their own kitchens as well as knowing nearly all of their customers on a personal basis.

Farmers are a bare 1% of the population. During the Great Depression, 30-40% of the USA farmed. We desperately need to recognize the importance of supporting our small sustainable farms in all ways. The Weston A. Price Foundation, Washington, D.C., has a brochure, Campaign for Real Milk, showing a small dairy farm able to make a nice living for the whole family if the produce is distributed locally from the farm. This contrasts pitifully with the present depressing situation of making no more per gallon of milk now than they did right after WWII.

Stop by the WAP Ninth Annual Conference this weekend, 11/09-11/10, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, Burlingame, California. It’s their first West Coast conference, and the speaker/topic line-up is impressive.

Actually, I wasn't aware that any food is actually guaranteed to be safe. And I'd point out that pasteurizing milk doesn't rid it of all problems (see the Lysteria deaths article from "processed" milk that I linked to above), so pasteurization is not exactly a magic cure-all. Fact is, you can get a food-borne illness from just about any food; remember the E.coli scares from vegetables a while back?

This is not the only site that discusses the drawbacks of pasteurized milk. The Weston A. Price Foundations' RealMilk.com states:

Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Calves fed pasteurized milk do poorly and many die before maturity.
…
Raw milk sours naturally but pasteurized milk turns putrid; processors must remove slime and pus from pasteurized milk by a process of centrifugal clarification. Inspection of dairy herds for disease is not required for pasteurized milk. Pasteurization was instituted in the 1920s to combat TB, infant diarrhea, undulant fever and other diseases caused by poor animal nutrition and dirty production methods. But times have changed and…

That said, like my grandfather used to say, "You pays your money and you takes your choice." ;)

The truth of the matter is that *no* raw milk is guaranteed to be safe. Even healthy dairy cows raised in pristine conditions will still carry the natural gut flora that are pathogenic to humans. (This is why you don\'t see cows dying of E.coli O157:H7 everywhere.) These pathogens can be passed out through the milk, causing a myriad of health problems, ranging from simple cramps, nausea and diarrhea to tuberculosis, diphtheria, and serious salmonella infections.

On the other hand, the nutritional drawbacks of pasteurization aren\'t as extreme as they\'re made out to be on this site. Almost all of the milk proteins, casein and whey protein included, make it through standard pasteurization (71.7 °C for 15-20 seconds) without being denatured. In addition, the vitamins thiamine, folate, B-12, and riboflavin only undergo a 5-10% reduction during pasteurization.

Nothing is added or drastically changed during pasteurization, so there\'s no reason that it would have any sort of adverse health effects, other than anecdotal ones. It is only slightly less nutritious than raw milk, but that far outweighs the risk you take with every glass of raw milk.

I know what you mean. It's interesting that raw milk is banned in some states due to various reasons (including some incidents of people getting ill) — however, pasteurized milk has also had its incidents (see Two People Die After Drinking Listeria Tainted Milk In Massachusetts), and yet pasteurized milk has not been removed from the food supply.

Heck. The first time I got food poisoning it was from a chocolate cake (non-organic) that we'd purchased from a store. I can't say that it was fun, but neither do I wish for chocolate cake to be removed from the market!

Unfortunately, not all states are enlightened with regard to raw milk — but sales of raw milk are allowed in some states. You may be able to find a supplier on
this list at realmilk.com.

Good luck!