Nutrition
Raw Milk on Trial
Raw milk is often touted as a cure-all, but the reality is more nuanced: While some studies show positive effects, safety risks shouldn't be overlooked – especially for vulnerable groups.
Nutrition
Raw milk is often touted as a cure-all, but the reality is more nuanced: While some studies show positive effects, safety risks shouldn't be overlooked – especially for vulnerable groups.
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What happened in May 2024? The search volume for the term "raw milk" suddenly more than doubled that month and reached an all-time high. By June, interest had already declined somewhat.
Did another influencer trigger a hype? One might think so!
In fact, it was likely related to current events in the USA: Bird flu broke out in dairy cattle herds there, and even a farm worker became infected.
High viral titers were found in the milk of these cows, which is why US authorities continue to advise against consuming raw milk.
We've also encountered the topic of raw milk more frequently on social media recently. And we wouldn't be edubily if we didn't examine it closely for you.
So let's look at what you can expect from raw milk – and what you can't.
Don't worry, unlike Stephen Hawking, we really want to keep this brief ;-)
About 10,000 years ago, our ancestors gradually gave up their hunter-gatherer lifestyle and settled down. They began cultivating plants and raising animals. This meant new foods suddenly appeared on the menu – like cereal grasses and milk – even if in very small quantities.
Research suggests that milk played an important role in nutrition in regions where agricultural cultures were difficult to establish or vulnerable to environmental influences, helping to secure energy supply.
Over time, various milk products developed, such as kefir, yogurt, and cheese. These likely arose through spontaneous fermentation via lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, which occur naturally everywhere in the environment and get into milk.
In the Caucasus, milk was already being stored in sheepskin bags several thousand years ago and fermented into kefir with the help of microorganisms.
Now let's jump ahead to the era of industrialization: As population density in cities increased and supply chains from countryside to city lengthened, problems with germs in raw milk emerged.
Through poorly processed and long-stored milk, potentially dangerous pathogens such as E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria, and Salmonella were transmitted – refrigerators didn't exist back then. Tuberculosis also reached its peak in the 19th century and was partly transmitted through raw milk. Estimates suggest that 10% of tuberculosis cases in Chicago were attributable to raw milk consumption.
To put an end to the spread of dangerous germs, pasteurization – invented by chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur – was introduced in the 20th century.
Milk is heated for a few seconds and then immediately cooled again. In traditional pasteurization, the temperature remains below 100°C. Milk proteins remain largely (over 93%) intact with this method.
Most antimicrobial enzymes in milk, such as lactoferrin, also survive gentle pasteurization. Only lactoperoxidase and lysozyme lose about 30% of their activity.
Pasteurized fresh milk still contains living bacteria and lasts 7–10 days. You therefore find this milk in the refrigerated section.
To kill all germs and dramatically extend shelf life, ultra-high temperature treatment is used. Temperatures of 135–150°C are reached, which gets even the last stubborn bacterium. In this UHT milk, nothing is alive anymore.
The milk proteins in this sterilized milk are also denatured – no longer in their original structure – which leads to an altered taste of UHT milk compared to fresh or raw milk.
Milk is usually also homogenized. In this process, milk is forced through a nozzle under high pressure to break down the fat globules and thus prevent a cream layer from forming on the milk.
So milk is not all the same. We understand that now.
But is raw milk really a cure-all? Some influencers and health gurus currently tout raw milk as THE cure-all. And they happily drink a full liter daily.
Raw milk is credited with many wonderful properties: It supposedly contains more nutrients and can help with allergies and respiratory diseases, for example. The active enzymes are also often highlighted, but as we learned in the previous section, these are also largely bioactive in pasteurized milk.
There are indeed some studies that report positive effects of raw milk.
The well-known PASTURE study with over 900 children showed an inverse relationship between regular raw milk consumption and the occurrence of asthma. The protective effect of raw milk was stronger the higher the fat content, especially omega-3 fatty acids.
A study on infants also found that consuming raw milk compared to UHT milk reduced the risk of respiratory infections and fever by about 30%.
The authors' conclusion states:
"If the health risks of raw milk could be overcome, minimally processed yet pathogen-free milk could have enormous impacts on public health."
This brings us to a key disadvantage of raw milk consumption.
Studies have found that up to 5% of examined raw milk samples contain potentially pathogenic germs such as Campylobacter and STEC (a type of E. coli), and about 10% of samples contain multiresistant bacteria.
Infections with these pathogens can be fatal in the worst case. This applies especially to vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, children, or immunocompromised individuals. Recent research has also shown that bird flu can be transmitted through raw milk if milk from infected animals is fed to mice.
Data also show that raw milk can be nearly as safe as pasteurized milk, depending on handling. Farms that sell the so-called "premium milk" must follow very strict hygiene regulations. Premium milk has similar bacterial counts as pasteurized milk.
Apart from the non-negligible infection risk, raw milk is ultimately still just milk. A potent food that, in the context of our Western lifestyle, one can easily overdo.
The micro-RNA (miRNA) contained in milk seems to boost body growth by inhibiting catabolic, i.e., breaking-down processes, which are controlled via the "health enzyme" AMPK. There is an entire current field of research associating these processes with diabetes development.
Furthermore, milk proteins can be immunologically problematic because they resemble many body proteins, and cross-reactivity can occur (keyword: autoimmune diseases). This was suggested, for example, recently in a German study (University of Bonn) with MS patients.
In the context of a healthy diet, milk products can be a source of high-quality protein, calcium, fatty acids, and vitamins such as vitamin K2. We therefore don't advise against milk per se.
But whether it's a liter of raw milk daily or an occasional sip of pasteurized Demeter grass-fed milk or a good organic yogurt is up to each person.
Of course, foods should always be as unprocessed as possible. We see it the same way with milk. However, whether the risk of raw milk consumption is worth the alleged benefits of raw milk remains questionable. Because for many arguments against processed milk, there is actually no robust body of evidence.
