All About Milk

As you can see, the truth is a little more complicated. Let's look at all aspects of the question, so you can make the best choice for you. There are two main things you need to take into account – the quality of the milk, and your individual tolerance to it.

The sections below cover:

What are the characteristics of good quality milk?

There are various aspects to take into account:

Type of feed

The quality of the milk depends on the quality of the feed. It is vital for cows to be raised on pasture, eating grass or hay, with room to roam about, and somewhere clean to rest and sleep.

NZ readers are probably wondering why that needs to be spelt out, as that is how all cows are raised in New Zealand. But that’s not the case in all countries. In the US, for example, many cows are kept in confinement, unable to find a clean place to stand or lie down, never see the sky or breathe fresh air, and eat grains (or worse, according to Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser!)

Cows are designed to eat grass and are not meant to be fed on grain. Products from cows fed grass contain much higher levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid - a fat with cancer fighting properties), Omega-3 fats, beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E than those those fed grains. For more details, see www.eatwild.com

As well as feeding cows inappropriately, factory farming methods may include:

The Meatrix video shows this more graphically than I can, so check it out here. (But remember to come back here for the rest of the article. Factory farming is the just the beginning of the milk story.)

For decades, vegetarians and vegans have been shunning meat and/or dairy products for animal cruelty reasons. But to do that may be sacrificing your health unnecessarily. Now also online is The Meatrix II which begins to highlight some of the alternatives, such as supporting small, local farms, eating free range eggs and pasture raised dairy. [In NZ, cows and sheep are generally pasture raised, but pigs and chickens are often confined. So it's important for many reasons to buy free range eggs and organic, free range chicken and pork.]

Pesticides on grass that is eaten by cows make their way into the milk supply. A healthy person’s liver can neutralise and eliminate such toxins. But we’re exposed to lots of toxins in our modern world. At some point your liver will get overloaded and be unable to do it’s job properly. So it makes sense to eat organic when you can (without stressing about it if you can't). This applies to all foods, not just dairy.

Pesticides are usually herbicides (about 65% in NZ), fungicides (20%) or insecticides (10%). In NZ, some of the residues that may be in non-organic milk include DDT and organophosphates.

DDT has been used in NZ since the 1950s. It was banned in the US in 1972, but not until 1987 in Australia and 1989 in New Zealand. It was used in livestock farming here till the end of the 70's and even longer in orchards and home gardens. DDT remains in the soil for long periods of time, and residues are still being found in milk and other products today, with Canterbury being particularly affected. There is a level of DDT that is considered "safe" and milk can be sold containing up to that level. Consider that commercial milk comes from a variety of sources, and while some are low in DDT, some could be quite high. When the milk is all mixed together, the average level is below the cut-off point. But what would be the ethics of selling milk known to be high in DDT, by combining it with safer milk, if such a thing is happening?

In 2000, the Safe Food campaign found that NZ children were exposed to five times the pesticide residues that US children were. This is mostly from organophosphates and fungicides. Although the Ministry of Health felt that this was not a problem, the Safe Food campaign felt it was a major health issue and so do I!

Another aspect of the milk is whether the beta-casein component of the protein is A1 type or A2 type. Although it's not conclusive at this stage, research done at Lincoln University, in New Zealand, has shown correlations between A1 milk and diseases such as heart disease and Type 1 diabetes. These diseases have no such correlations with A2 milk.

Originally, all milk was A2. About 5000 years ago there was a mutation in Europe and the A1 genes spread through cow herds. These days:

There is some A2 milk and cream available in New Zealand, try your organic store.

Type of cows

Holstein or Friesian cows are commonly used for producing dairy as they have a higher milk yield. But more isn’t necessarily better. To achieve this, they are bred to have higher levels of growth hormone, which is undesirable for feeding to children, unless they have growth deficiency diseases.

I prefer milk from Jersey or Guernsey cows - which has these characteristics:

Which leads to your next question – but surely more cream and thus more saturated fat is bad for me?

The fat content

Homogenisation

Homogenisation is a process that breaks down butterfat globules so they don't rise to the top of the milk. But by doing so the structure of the fat is changed.

There is a big increase in surface area of the fat globules. The original fat globule membrane is lost and a new one is formed that incorporates a much greater portion of casein and whey proteins. Lipid scientist Mary Enig thinks this may be one of the reasons modern processed milk is a common allergen.

Other researchers have hypothesised that these changes may account for the increases in heart disease, but that hasn't been proven.

At this stage, we just don't know how damaging the homogenization process is, and can't be sure it's benign. So whether you choose raw or pasteurized milk, avoiding homogenised milk is probably prudent.

Raw or Pasteurised?

We're told that milk has to be pasteurised to kill pathogens and prevent disease.

Possible health benefits of switching from pasteurised to raw milk include:

If you want to read more about raw milk, go to: www.realmilk.com or get hold of The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid.

Freshness

One reason that the big milk producers want to pasteurise the milk is that it will keep longer. With raw milk, after a few days it will sour naturally. It is still nutritious, but turns to a different form. So with raw milk, you can always tell how fresh it is.

Pasteurised milk may already be several days old by the time it reaches the supermarket. There is no way for you to tell how fresh it is. You can tell when it's gone off though - it turns putrid and undrinkable!

Summary of what to look for

So if you’re just looking at the quality of the milk, the best milk to buy is generally:

If you can’t get all of these, make sure it is at least pasture raised, non-homogenised and full cream; and organic, if possible. In NZ, last time I checked, there were three brands available commercially that had a non-homogenised whole milk in their range - MeadowFresh, Naturalea Organic and Ecofarm Organic.

There is a way to restore some quality to milk that isn’t as good as you would like, and that’s by culturing (fermenting). Culturing creates beneficial bacteria and yeasts which help maintain digestive health. So even if you feel great on milk, consider trying some ferments for additional health benefits. Traditionally, most cultures who ate dairy products ate them in fermented form, as one of those below or as cheese.

Is milk a suitable food for humans?

When thinking about whether a food might be suitable for humans, a good rule of thumb is often to ask "Would (or could) my ancestors have eaten this?"

Our ancestors originally ate what they could hunt or gather - wild game, berries and fruit, greens and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Later when they were able to domesticate animals, dairy products and eggs were added. Grains and legumes weren't commonly eaten till humans settled in one place, instead of being nomadic, and were able to regularly grow crops.

Goats and sheep were domesticated around 9000 BC, and cows around 7000 BC. So not a huge amount of time, in evolutionary terms. Some of us have adapted to thrive on dairy, and some don’t do well even on the best milk around.

We've already talked about the drawbacks of bad quality milk, now let's look at possible drawbacks of good quality milk. The main problem is that nature designed milk as a food for baby cows:

There are two problems caused by this.

But we are evolving organisms, and SOME people, through need or longer hereditary exposure have learned to be nourished by milk. There is too much evidence of people regaining their health after drinking good quality raw milk to discount the possibility.

People who do well on milk could include:

Others who may not necessarily be as well suited genetically, but who may need the nutrients due to lifestyle choice or circumstance, could be those who are unable to get adequate protein, animal fat and fat soluble vitamins from their diets:

An anecdote - When the US was first settled, it was a very hard life, and many people had to return to England, as they couldn't support themselves on the land. It wasn't until they were able to keep cows and drink the milk, that enough people were able to stay and remain in health.

There are probably not many people who actually NEED dairy, but as with grains, most of us have come to like and want it. It can be a very convenient food, but isn't always necessary. So we need to weigh up our habits and wants against our body's need, consider the pros and cons and make our own decisions. Only you can figure out whether dairy products are beneficial, neutral or harmful for you, and make your choices accordingly. After all, all manner of rubbish that we never evolved to eat is sold under the guise of food in every supermarket.

Individual levels of tolerance

If you don't do well on milk, let’s look at the possible reasons. The first to consider is that your problem is with processed milk. This could be for several of the reasons discussed above under pasteurisation - like not enough enzymes, or production of histamines.

So check that out first. Get hold of some good quality, raw, grass fed milk and try it out. For many people, that is the only change you need to make. Once the issue of quality has been addressed, there is no longer a problem.

Or even better, get your good quality milk and culture it, and see how that is for you.

But if that doesn't help, and you really do have a problem, there are several possible reasons, which can be broadly broken down into 3 categories:

Dairy allergies

We're talking here about true allergies, where there is an Ig reaction of some kind. (See the gluten intolerance page for more details about the differences).

The most common is to casein, which is in all forms of dairy, and is unaffected by fermenting. Some people are affected specifically by the A1 casein, and can tolerate A2. But otherwise, your dairy choices are restricted to possibly butter or ghee.

If it's the whey you're reactive to, you may be able to tolerate cheese.

Some people react to phenolics (chemical compounds in dairy) . As far as I've been able to find out, phenolics are not a problem if the milk is raw.

Lactose intolerance

This is not actually an allergy. Instead it is an inability to produce the enzyme lactase, which is needed to digest lactose. People who can’t digest lactose can sometimes drink:

Or you can supplement with a capsule of lactase enzyme each time you eat dairy products.
 

Inability to digest complex carbohydrates

Breaking the Vicious Cycle, a book by Elaine Gottschall, explains why some people are unable to digest complex carbohydrates, and outlines a diet (the Specific Carbohydrate Diet) that excludes the offending carbs. People with a wide range of complaints including colitis, Crohn's disease and autism have had success with this diet.

If you're gluten and dairy intolerant, and still having problems once those foods are excluded, it may be worth trying the SCD for a while.
 

Inability to digest fats

There are several possible reasons for being unable to digest fats:

Not suited metabolically

We all have different metabolic needs. The various types of metabolic typing have different recommendations on dairy. For example:

If you just don't feel as good as you could, on dairy, and can't track down any specific intolerance, keep it to a minimum. But still use butter or ghee, as they are easily digested fats for most people.

What to do if you can't have dairy at all

Back in Hunter Gatherer times, our ancestors didn't eat dairy products or grains. But we've got used to them being such a huge part of our modern diet that we don't know what to do without them. On other pages, we've talked about gluten intolerance and what to do about it. For some people, it's easier to give up wheat & gluten, than it is to give up dairy.

"The Garden of Eating" by Rachel Albert-Matesz and Don Matesz is an excellent cookbook full of delicious recipes for a Hunter Gatherer diet. It's high in fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, meat and fish, and without grains or dairy, and is a useful resource.

Aug 08: Rachel has just written a fabulous new dairy-free, gluten-free book called "The Ice Dream Cookbook" (due for release 1 Oct) full of ice cream recipes made with coconut milk. I have just received an advance copy of it and as soon as we stop needing heaters, will be keen to test out some recipes. There are over 40 ice cream flavours to choose from, a dozen sauces and other dessert extras that are all gluten free. There are a few baked goods that use sorghum flour, which is not easy to find in NZ yet, but most other ingredients are available here. (Sorghum flour is also known as jowar flour, and may be available in some Indian shops).

Email me if you are interested in buying either of Rachel's books - we can source them for you if enough people are interested.

For those of you concerned about getting enough calcium, check out the calcium page to see other foods that you can get it from.

In the meantime, here's some ideas for substitutions.

Milk

Cream / Sour cream

Butter

Ice cream

Cheese

This is probably the trickiest and nothing really works. The best that the amazing people on the GFCFNN board can come up with is:

Whatever you do, though, avoid soy cheese, for all the usual reasons soy is undesirable.

Summary of recommendations

Do your own analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of dairy products, as only you know your own level of tolerance and need. But as a rough rule of thumb, here's what I'd suggest:

Article by Deb Gully
DietNet Healing Therapies

Deb is a Whole Food Nutrition consultant, EFT practitioner and kinesiologist in Wellington, NZ.

email: deb@frot.co.nz

www.diet.net.nz
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