Crêpe making at Quasimodo café
The French Paradox refers to the curious observation that French people are slim and healthy, suffering from a low risk of coronary artery disease despite a diet extremely high in saturated fat regularly washed down with glasses of wine.
While the long held belief that saturated fat expands your waistline and causes heart disease has long since been disproven with cardiologists now going on record saying how ridiculous such an assertion actually is based on current research, there is clearly something else at play here keeping the French so healthy.
Is it just me or do the French just get it about what it takes to be healthy much better than Americans?
Case in point, while many Americans seem to prefer the latest and greatest silver bullet supplements that empty the wallet with promises of reduced fat, no wrinkles and perfect health yet never come close to measuring up, the French stick with the tried and true that actually works: nutrient dense food.
Check out this video below of a raw milk vending machine in France.
If raw milk was really as dangerous as the CDC and conventional medical authorities in the USA claim, wouldn’t these machines that are popping up all over Europe be causing some serious food borne illness outbreaks by now?
Perhaps the time has come to set aside the shrill warnings about the clear and present “danger” of grassfed raw milk and try some for yourself!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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{ 83 comments… read them below or add one }
I spent 9 months in France as a student/teacher and stayed with many kind families. While many are adapting American type processed food (I saw Nesquick and Laughing Cow Cheese, among other things), quite a few still consumed the older, healthier foods on a daily basis. At the home of one of these families, I saw a large yellow blob on a plate and assumed it was butter. As I reached to spread it on my croissant, my host stopped me and explained that that was “only for cooking and not for bread.” I realized it was margarine and wondered what she would have thought if I told her Americans spread it on their bread every day! The French still don’t think of food as much in terms of how many vitamins, the fat percentage, and nutrient density….rather they prepare it with good taste in mind. And, as we know, real food tastes fantastic!
The French also spend a lot more of their income on food than Americans do .. they turn up their noses at cheap food generally speaking. With the quality of the food high, the portions can be smaller as people get filled up more quickly because the food is more nutritious.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
Which puts me in mind of a current pet peeve of mine. I know that regular store milk is not a healthy choice, but of course that is what is given to our children in the public schools. AND, this year, they reduced the fat to 0% in chocolate milk and 1% in white milk. It was reported a few months ago in the local newspaper. I think you could have seen steam coming out of my ears. Under the guise of “low-fat-healthier” claptrap, they do this. I can just hear the tummies of these kids speaking. “Oh!!! Yummy milk!”….. “Wait a minute… where’s the cream???” And so then their bodies are not satisfied and they eat more and get fatter. And the people who make money off the cream laugh all the way to the bank. Don’t get me started. Oh, sorry… already am. It’s very disturbing.
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Yolanda, I homeschool my boys (always have). I had done it for the education, or lack of in public schools. But here, after reading your post, I would think nutrition is on the list of “reasons to homeschool” You bring up such a good point. It makes me just sick to think about all the children being in that situation…
Grace ~ that is good that you are in a position to be able to home-school your sons. I am happy for you! We did that from the time our oldest (of 6) was 12 years old. That was a LONG time ago. I’ve always been very nutrition-conscious, thanks to a mother who was. She did the very best she could with the knowledge available at the time, and I am so grateful for her example. The practices and culture of a home has such a profound and long-lasting influence in the lives of our children (and grandchildren.) Enjoy!
So true! The French scratch their heads in befuddled amusement and horror at the American concept of an “all-you-can-eat” restaurant, thinking why in the world would anyone want to do such a thing.
You’re right Sarah. I’ve lived in France for the last fifteen years and have grown to love the simplicity of the French palate : they are purists, and no they can’t take too much going on in one mouthful, but, oh boy, do they know what a good cheese is or what a good cut of meat tastes like or if the fish is fresh. Those basic things are not taught to anglo-saxons. We complicate it all, before educating ourselves.
And yes we do spend a lot of money on food. My husband, who is French would never complain about our food bills. My gynaecologist for my first baby refused supplements for first time mothers insisting “la santé est dans l’assiette” “good health comes on a plate”. He was spot on!
That is Awesome!! I wish we had those vending machines around so we wouldn’t have to drive an hr!
It is related to raw milk because what our US food law makers tell us is contradicted by the FACTS that people in France can drink this delicious milk legally and not fall over dead
Makes me want to live in France but my family is here so I will have to keep driving far outside my immediate area to purchase healthy raw cow and goat’s milk that has to be called ‘pet food’ so that it can be sold within legal limits, soooooooooooooo stupid.
For all the states that still have laws against raw milk, this is where they ought to go. They can start out with these machines with big warning signs telling people that government believes it might kill you and let the people vote with their dollars, to see if raw milk consumption grows or if the people prefer to be told what is safe by the government!
Pinned this on my Good Ideas Board! Thank you!
I live in Illinois (Chicago area) and a couple of years ago I found a supplier of raw milk from pasture-fed jersey cows. I never thought milk could be so delicious! My whole family loves it. I make milk kefir with it as well as serve it as is, and we can’t get enough of how good and satisfying it is.
Great post Sarah!!! Thank you!
That is awesome!!! And so inexpensive!
But you can have sushi anytime, anywhere and I have yet to see CDC and FDA worrying about food borne illness outbreaks from eating raw fish. Now that a paradox!
So true. We love it.
Great video!!! We are not raw milk drinkers (Louisiana) and are not in a position to house and milk are own goat or cow in our subdivision. But this is so interesting to me and this video was much more informative and reasurring than just personal testimonies.
Can you ship it in Dani? When I could not get local raw dairy many years ago, I shipped in raw cream frozen from Pennsylvania. 9 quarts a month. We went crazy on frozen cream. Fresh raw milk is indeed a luxury but you can do without if you ship in raw cream, raw butter which is not that heavy nor too expensive to ship like raw milk would be.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
can you ship raw dairy across state lines??
-jason and lisa-
Yes, if it’s frozen.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
Sarah, where did you ship it from?
Dani, Where in Louisiana are you? I may be able to help.
Beth,
I am in Broussard, near Lafayette, and would appreciate info as well. Thanks.
~Mary~
I used to work for an agency where the big bosses, husband and wife, were tough and rudely demanding. But they would save their vacation time, and go to France for several weeks every year, just to eat.
They would come back happy, healthy, relaxed, efficient, mellow yet focused. After a couple weeks on American factory food they would return to being their usual grumpy, demanding selves.
When one of the bosses was telling me about how wonderful the food was, I asked him if you could get really good food in the US. He sadly shook his head, and said no. He said there was not way to even compare the difference. He looked at me and said – “Food is the most important thing”. This was in the late seventies.
The best food I have eaten anywhere I have ever traveled (been to 5 continents so far) is FRANCE by far!!!!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
When I lived in France, I wanted to make American cookies for one of my host families… my mom’s recipe called for shortening, so I asked my host mother for “solid vegetable fat” as I didn’t know the French word for shortening. Needless to say, they had no clue what I was talking about
I ended up using lard instead, and the cookies were delicious! The French definitely get it.
I love France. I love watching people walk down the streets munching on their baguettes. No stress, no worries about waistlines. Simple enjoying life and enjoying real, quality, fresh food. Clearly they are on to something.
Kenedi – Real Food Whole Life\’s last post: Perfect Pickler Giveaway!
French people are lovely. What’s this deal people say about them not liking Americans? I find the French to be polite, wonderful, open and friendly. Even in Paris they are completely fabulous to interact with.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
I have left France 16 years ago. Every time I go back, I am actually shocked to see how much of it’s food culture it is losing. In the north of France, or at least in my experience of the area where we are from, people tend to use long life pasteurised milk in tetra packs, rather than the fresh milk (still pasteurised) we get in the UK. Young people can’t cook, and can’t get enough fast food. (Young) people’s shapes are changing drastically, especially amongst the poorer classes.
It may be true that some areas are retaining their food culture and traditions, but sadly it is not a France wide observation as far as I can tell. Sad but true.
You’re right, Lilas. I came to France around 25 years ago to marry a native, so I’ve seen the change. You’re getting young girls with the ‘behind spread’ now like you find in the states. Here, there is still no addressing the transfats in foods and coke is piled up in the supermarket caddies that people are checking out.
I laughed once when my French brother-in-law came back from living in the states for a year. He opened up a tetra pack of milk, chugged it down, and then said’, “OH, how great to have REAL milk again!” Meanwhile, someone I know from ENGLAND (country of reputed BAD food) that insists on real cream when they come to France, but it’s a losing battle.
The schools have ‘tasting’ sessions to introduce the younger generation to real food.
Back in the early 90′s, I sat next to a Frenchman on a flight to Chicago. I found out he and his associates were on their way to attend a big food convention in Chicago…..they being from the Monoprix supermarket chain. So I looked at him and said, “Tell me straight – you’re coming to that convention to find out how you can make food cheaper, right?”
To that, he shook his head in agreement.
Okay – but I can’t wrap my head that sugar is evil: what the French do with pastries is
STILL at genius level!
I WANT SOME CREPES!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
I was in France in the late 60s, mostly in Paris. I remember lots of pastries for breakfast. People seemed to walk a lot more there. Maybe more exercise is the difference.
i spend a semester abroad in France and gained a ton of weight eating pain au chocolate every day. it was not cute.
Joy\’s last post: Birthdays
Hit reply to quickly. Just wanted to add that it was probably because I hadn’t eaten such delicious pastries before (raised on PopTarts) that I went out of control. Part of the key for the French has got to be that they have always had it around so it’s not coveted and they don’t go overboard.
Joy\’s last post: Birthdays
The most interesting thing over here is that some types of liver are highly prized and more expensive than a steak.
Yes the French know what kinds of food make the junk in the trunk look like a Ferrari!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
Sarah, I thought that the main problem with the French diet was that they tend to eat a lot of processed carbs in breads and pastries and they smoke a lot of cigarettes. How do you explain their health in spite of these more important factors?
My Grandfather smoked 3 packs of Camels/day for decades and drank like a fish and lived to be 97 (on his own .. walking around, driving a car etc). He also ate butter, eggs, and the fat around his steaks like it was going out of style. Traditional fats eaten with abandon are extremely protective other negative factors in the environment and in the diet.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
Your grandfather sounds like my kind of guy!
My stepfather smoked since he was 13 yrs. old and later his doctor put him on a low cholesterol diet. Now he has suffered throat cancer and cancer of the tongue which was removed. So he “eats” from a stomach tube and can’t talk anymore. It was the worst surgery I have ever seen, with thigh skin grafted for the end of the stub of his tongue. If you even THINK smoking doesn’t have an effect, then you have to be an idiot!!! It is not worth the risk. Now my stepfather has lost every bit of the life he led… no more law career, no strength to golf and he was a talker… no more conversation. Would the fat have helped him? No. Don’t be ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!
If my Grandfather hadn’t eaten all that fat, he would have been dead decades sooner. The fats were indeed protective. Not to say that smoking doesn’t kill others much sooner but he had no ill effects from it and there is no doubt his diet played a huge positive role.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
He would have had blackened lungs and he harmed others with his smoke. I’m disgusted that you even say that smoking didn’t have any ill effects… seriously? There is never any excuse to say smoking isn’t detrimental to people’s health. Take a big whiff of smoke and tell me you are not affected. Yes, fats play a huge protective role but why be an idiot and smoke?! There is never a reason to smoke.
She never said that it was good or ok that he smoked!
Actually that’s not exactly true. High HDL/low LDL is associated with healthy lung function. If the lungs did not purify the oxygen you breathe you’d be dead even w/o smoking anyway. The typical American diet the last 40-50 years has been low on saturated fat which has led to many problems. Fats (saturated) are used in the body to carry toxins out for disposal. No studies were ever done on this AFAIK so to unilaterally state that you cannot smoke and be healthy or that you must contract lung cancer would I think be as irresponsible as saying that you can smoke 3 packs a day and be better for it. The so-called intellectuals constantly get it wrong in our society including foodists who preach water, water fasting and the like are the best way to purify toxins from the body. Apparently fats do it better which no one ever preached while I was growing up nor did all the health faddists(US based). So it’s new territory for many people concerned with health. I wouldn’t smoke 3/packs daily but I have heard enough ancedotal evidence to suggest many older people 90+ have lived their whole lives eating the exact opposite preached by the food scientists and that’s the French paradox. Plus the whole grape/grape seed/pine bark issue. Many say wine doesn’t have the same levels needed to protect the heart, etc, but that’s what the French do in abudance too.
It sounds like the low cholesterol diet was a strong contributer to his decline.
*contributor
Oddly, the non-filtered Camels, Lucky Strikes & Pall Malls of old times do not have the chemicals that saturate filtered cigarettes.
I knew old men smoking these while the younger were dying from the filtered. I thought it an interesting paradox.
Thanks for posting, how interesting is that machine!
I want one (right near the RedBox at the neighborhood Target would be perfect … I’m NOT kidding!)
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
It’s too simplistic to point to just one factor. Keep in mind, the French also walk…A LOT! My nieces gained weight after coming back to the States after living outside of Paris for 3 years. They said that they walked everywhere. Also, people tend to always buy fresh. The idea of going to a store and stocking up for the month or even week, was less prevalent. Small markets are more the norm than large grocery stores that carry all the processed junk.
It’s a whole way of life….not just one thing.
Very interesting to see how easy it is to get raw milk in France. I’m reading an American cookbook from the 1930′s that dedicated a whole section to French cooking. It’s full of fat facts and healthy eating tips that include no snacking and smaller portion sizes that were standard for the day .. including many fatty foods all balanced with nutritious soups as a first course .. even detailing how to make traditional meat stocks … etc. explaining how it aids digestion. (If you’re interested in checking out this age old cookbook, here’s a link to view on line and download a free pdf.)
http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7022274M/The_American_woman%27s_cook_book
Mrs. Mac\’s last post: From Garden to Table
I love this book! I have it at home and refer to it all the time. I love just pulling it off the shelf and reading it here and there for ‘old-fashioned wisdom’. The recipes I’ve tried are all really good too.
Just an FYI, Dr. Dwight Lundell isn’t a Cardiologist but rather a heart surgeon.
http://lewrockwell.com/miller/miller38.1.html..Ludell talkes about what he sees when doing heart surgery. But many cardiologists say the same thing..
If everyone ate nutrient dense food, a lot of those items’ prices would shoot through the roof. E.g., a lamb may yield a few pounds of liver, but many more pounds of meat. If everyone wanted to eat lamb’s liver, its price would be maybe 30 times what it is selling right now. Another example: my fishmonger stopped selling me snapper heads after I let him in on the secret that, unlike with salmon heads, fish stock made with non-oily snapper heads would not stink up the whole joint. Now the fishmonger is switching to snapper heads to make his store-made fish soups and wants to sell me salmon heads! Now just imagine everyone wanted snapper heads: it would have cost $50 each instead of $2.
That said, raw milk is a bit different because its production uses a different process than pasteurized milk. Cow’s milk output remains the same. It is interesting that Louis Pasteur’s fellow countrymen/women are drinking non-pasteurized, raw milk:)
My brother lived in France for a while, and I have been 3 times….unfortunatley that was when I was a fat-o-phobic. I also lived in Austria for a semester of school. Fresh cream, whole fish with the heads, and lots of butter were staples at every meal. Its funny, I often use to pass a very old woman walking up the side of a mountain with her bag of groceries(smiling and robust). I thought, “How in the world can a woman that old hike up the side of a mountain with her groceries….IN THE WINTER?!” Simultaneously I was disgusted at the food being fed to me (low fat college girl) so I’d walk to the nearest supermarket to get something “healthier.” If I’d only known then what I know now I could have saved my children and myself from some health issues that come from being so malnourished!
Unfortunately the French Paradox is endangered by American food companies and restaurants like McDonald’s in France. The children are eating like Americans there and they are already seeing poorer health and obesity too. A good friend of mine lives near Paris and I fill her in on WAPF news and info, and while she tries to teach her daughter traditional cooking and eating, she says it’s getting just as hard there to feed her family well. Good food is expensive as it is here and the economy is suffering.
New to Real Food, (just picked up my 2 gallons of raw milk, 2 quarts of yoghurt, and
2 dozen free range eggs) but am remembering how my Dad used to eat. He always
put a little cream on his oats for breakfast, cooked his eggs in butter because he would never, ever eat margarine, and ate liver with relish. Never had high cholesterol. My Mom – she loved sugar and wouldn’t touch butter. She has had 2 triple bypass surgeries; she has been on a lowfat diet and statins for years.
Thanks, Sarah, for reminding us how to eat, and for teaching us how. Gotta go check my
cream cheese and whey, my raw milk clabbered 1st try!
I can’t click on the video. Nothing happens.
I just went back and checked and it was up. I don’t know what happened before but i got to see it. That is really interesting to get raw milk from a vending machine. I wonder if France is laughing at us and the big to- do about raw milk in the states.
How cool! When will the US catch up?
Linnae\’s last post: Scallops and veggie stir fry
I think it will be sooner than most people expect.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist\’s last post: The French Paradox and Raw Milk
This brings to mind the video I saw of the recent “Raw Milk Debate” that was held at Harvard Law School. Before watching the video, I felt good about not only drinking raw milk myself but giving it to our future children. After the video though, I am actually left with some doubts.
For those of you who’ve seen it (google for it if you haven’t), I found Sally Fallon’s presentation to be very good. The second guy, not so much and the lawyer, not so much. But the last woman, she was from somewhere in the midwest, she seemed so level-headed I found her to actually be more credible than Sally Fallon. I realize my judgment here has more to do with assessment of character rather than the presented facts. Generally, I have like Sally’s work, but in the video, she lost me near the end. Maybe I am the only one who reacted like this, but would love to hear other’s comments.
I expected to see arrogant assertiveness from the midwest woman (prime dairy country), but she was the most reasonable and level-headed of the lot, IMO. I perceived her as trustworthy. When she said her interest in combating raw milk was solely for the public’s health, I believed her. I have no way to prove it, but she sure did not sound like a spokesperson for the big-biz (pasteurized) dairy industry.
My concern has to do with not the millions of people who drink raw milk with no problems, but the few who actually die from it. What do these deaths have in common, if anything? IIRC, the lawyer’s client had been drinking raw milk from a “healthy” farm, grass fed, small farmer, all that…and the client died, claiming from illness caused by the raw milk. We are not privy to more of this client’s health history, did they have a compromised immune system, etc? Don’t quote me on this…and I would have to watch the whole video again (which I will at some point) to see where I got this idea, but after watching the debate I was left with the idea that even though a lower risk, raw milk even from organic/grassfed/small farm/etc can kill. Possibly an adult would have a strong enough immune system to deal with bad raw milk, but a child, how can they deal with it? And yes, I realize the risk is quite small and there are plenty of other reasons to NOT feed your child pasteurized milk. And sure, driving a car is statistically more dangerous, I’m sure, not what I am looking for.
I wished the debate had had more time, I would have liked to have heard a lot more arguing/debating from both sides. For now, I will continue to make my own raw milk kefir and have some more time to explore the safety of serving raw milk to our children.
I’m bringing this up to bring more debate to this subject. I love hearing both sides and hearing only one side can dangerously lead to blind faith. Sally Fallon often seems to have good rebuttals, but I was unimpressed this time. I want to make the most informed decision. While I often trust my gut to make important decisions, having a wealth of information can certainly feed the gut!
pd,
All food can kill if handled improperly, and it has. Remember the Jack-in-the-box e-coli hamburger that killed people a few years ago. Sadly, people die every year of food-bourne bacteria often caused by negligence. Even becoming vegan won’t help: remember the tainted spinach in California that killed people. You can’t be afraid of life or eating. The numbers are very small compared to the general population. The percentages are very much in your favor.
However, if you’re going to not drink raw milk (because of the potential for illness), you have to use the same logic(?) to not eat anything else that could cause potentially serious and life threatening illness – No more eating out, no more hamburgers or meat, no more fish, no more vegetables, no more fruit. Oh, and, don’t drink the water!!!
Pot calling the kettle black argument. When it suits them the USDA wants to use ancedotal unscientific “evidence” to support their claims. Many people die after taking medical drugs and/or “treatments” but you think they’d get anywhere suing those conglomerates or trying to advertise how unsafe they are? Because the USDA wants to shutdown raw milk these stories (and very few mind you ) keep popping up. So? You can keep searching and you’ll never find enough evidence to support any of these claims because it’s all buried. You just need to know they died and oh by the way they drank raw milk. But the previous year they drank it no problems. It doesn’t get any more unscientific than that.
Been thinking about this and when I lived in Spain for 5 weeks…we ate lots more healthy fats, lots more fish (antioxidants!?), got lots of sun and did a lot of walking. I, of course, lost some weight but never burned. Didn’t put 2+2 together until now, but I sure felt fabulous while I was there! However that experience of eating more fresh, local and natural [salad dressings (vinegar, oil, lemon, etc.)] made a big impact!
@Julie. Raw milk from vending machines what a luxury! Ooh-la-la!
After going to France several times I was in total shock to learn they do not sell fresh milk (the pasturized type). The whole country drinks the (to my taste) disgusting UHT milk!! Checked wiki in disbelief, the French drinks
95.5% of their milk in UHT form. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing
Good to learn raw milk is available now. But I think this post is misleading then..
In “Good Calories, Bad Calories,” Gary Taubes – an author who seems to have no axe to grind and isn’t selling any sort of diet plan – reviews scientific research over the past 100+ years and concludes that it’s a high carbohydrate diet – especially the simple carbs in rice, potatoes, white flour and sugar – that are the main cause of obesity and most of the “diseases of civilization” – cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, etc. If the French have a diet high in fat, it means they eat less of something else – carbohydrates. And if they are more physically active than we are – and how could they be less? – they probably find it easier to burn up the carbs they do eat.
Will cows full of antibiotics produce safe raw milk? Do the French have healthier cows? And is the only milk you can buy raw organic?
If my milk supplier has a cow on antibiotics, he will not add the milk to the bulk tank. He disposes of it. Not all raw milk is organic – you will have to ask your supplier. Mine is not certified organic but he feeds his cows the hay we grow. It’s been growing here ever since we’ve lived here. We didn’t seed it and we don’t fertilize it-but we don’t use pesticides either. But we know what the cow is eating.
Just saw this: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/amish-farm-kids-remarkably-immune-allergies-study-200835366.html
Looks like the French and the Amish have it right.
Hi,
I was interested in trying raw milk due to all the write-ups on this site, but my friend just experienced an e.coli outbreak on the herdshare she belongs to in Oregon. Her 2 year old son contracted e.coli, and subsequently HUS, a condition which can be life-threatening. He’s better now, thank God, but it was an extremely scary situation to say the least. Additionally, the farmer’s children were sickened and one was hospitalized in critical condition and on dialysis, although she is doing better now as well.
Anyway, my question is, how do we protect ourselves from this type of occurrence, or is it simply chance that these things will happen. The farmers of my friend’s herd-share were conscientious and good farmers, so I am wondering how something like that could happen, and how can it be prevented without pasteurizing the milk? Please let me know your thoughts and if you see any risks with drinking the raw milk (or if the benefits to you just outweigh the risks).
Thanks very much.
Hi Jen D.
I have to go to the next state over to buy raw milk, but the raw milk sold in stores there has been tested by the state to make sure it is free of unhealthy pathogens. I also believe you can buy home test kits. Maybe someone else knows more about these. Here is a cute video tour of a raw milk dairy, and the farmer talks about testing his milk. http://homegrownonahobbyfarm.com/index.php/2010/10/a-visit-to-wholesome-dairy-farms/ Not my video, no self promoting, just a nice video on this topic.
Even time I see old episodes of Julia Child, I feel bad that people told her beloved butter was bad for her. You can readily sense the deep disappointment she felt when she had to use vegetable oils and margarine on the episodes to please others.
Raw milk is inherently dangerous; this has been proven over and over again. There are currently two food poisoning outbreaks caused by raw milk. The outbreaks disproportionately affect children, because their immune systems are still developing. In fact, there are five children hospitalized with kidney failure in those outbreaks.f you really are a “home economist”, you know that the bacteria in raw milk, including E. coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Listeria can cause kidney failure, paralysis, and death.
There aren’t more outbreaks caused by raw milk because only 1% of consumers drink it. But it cases 60% of food poisoning cases linked to dairy products. Before pasteurization, as any home economist knows, milk products caused 50% of all foodborne illness. This article is irresponsible, to say the least.
Can you provide the documentation for these claims? Thanks -
Also, there are cases of food poisoning liked to pasteurized dairy products too.
Mae, it’s more like 3% of Americans drink raw milk. I don’t believe there have been any deaths attributable to raw milk, but there have definitely been deaths due to contaminated pasteurized milk, not to mention meat and various vegetables.
Anything can become contaminated, but making the world an antiseptic place is a fool’s errand and will not result in better health. The chances of a child being killed by a motor vehicle, a swimming pool, a gun, cancer, etc etc, are far greater than the chances of illness, much less dying, from raw milk. To drink raw milk or not is a decision everyone should make for herself. It is not your business or the government’s business to tell us what we can put in our bodies.
It’s easy enough to lie and mislead with statistics. Raw milk has a long history in the human diet. Cases of rampant food poisoning were prevalent in the bad old days of swill dairies, those urban dairies that didn’t have the cows on pasture but fed them used and discarded grains from distilleries. These were shady operations that put a priority on profit, not on health or sanitation. They are not reflective of the way good raw milk dairies are run nowadays, and they aren’t characteristic of they way dairy operations have been run throughout history. They were a brief aberration in certain U.S. cities early in the 20th century during a period of rapid urbanization but before refrigeration and stainless steel, etc, were available. Read “The Untold Story of Milk” by Ron Schmid to educate yourself.
Somehow enough of our ancestors survived drinking raw milk, etc., to pass along their genes to us. If raw milk scares you, DON’T DRINK IT! After all, you can always culture your raw milk first.
Whenever I bothered to follow an outbreak related to raw milk it usually ends up to either be unrelated to the milk and/or it can be more directly related to the milk processing, not the milk itself. In a world of recalls of meat and sickness from spinach why does milk become a bogeyman. There is nothing stopping a parent from culturing the milk before children drink it and/or eschew milk and go with aged 60 day plus raw cheese. A gov’t solution that pretty much guarantees a useless, albeit harmful food product in the end does more damage to the humans than e-coli. Raw milk is not a panacea but neither is pasteurization. Everything has costs, what is the cost of slow lingering diseases, osteoporosis to name one, arteriosclerosis to name another versus an occasional problem with a food that is inherently building not destroying. Don’t go blaming raw milk for the destruction of everyones health through the perverted food supply. Instead of castigating a simple healthful product maybe you should research why the food supply has basically turned into a river of garbage and the increasing disease state. Unless of course you think we just get every imaginable disease from breathing. Oh no wait, that’s right the air is now polluted with harmful chemicals too, oh well I guess I just have to wait for the prescribed pill to cure my problems. That’s the difference to the people here, taking action instead of reacting. “No” one has all the answers but at least we are trying and learning, not just accepting the status quo. And believe me I certainly tire of all the rhetoric from many in the “guru” camp who are just jumping onto the latest band-wagon for profit. But then again, when has the rhetoric ever stopped from the mass food suppliers, big pharma and the government. It’s a net sum zero game and I think we have to seek answers elsewhere because neither the FDA, USDA, big pharma and big food business nor the health supplement industry practices work. So viva la raw milk (grass fed) baby!
Did you see this article yet?!
“Amish farm kids remarkably immune to allergies: study” http://ca.news.yahoo.com/amish-farm-kids-remarkably-immune-allergies-study-200835366.html
Direct quote: “Drinking raw cow’s milk also seems to be involved, Holbreich said.”
Lisa G.\’s last post: 7 Quick Takes (#26)
Mae- The only reason people were getting sick was because the milk itself was bad. Not because it was unsterilized. It was not uncommon, before pasteurization became popular, for cows to be fed the left over mash from alcohol distilleries as a way to save money. Of course cows being forced to sustain themselves on rotten, putrid substances would make poor quality milk. They often produced gray milk, so that is when the industry got creative and started adding chalk to it to whiten it up. The milk was nothing more than swill. Along came pasteurization, and the germs could be killed, so technically it was “safe” to drink, but it still had little or no nutritional value. Today CAFO dairy cows are fed GMO corn and soy and often chicken poop. You would be a fool to drink anything from these cows -pasteurized or not.
The raw milk we followers of this blog drink is from cows raised on open fields, with green grass, plenty of room to roam and lots of sunshine. The dairy I buy my raw milk from (Organic Pastures) has mobile machines that milk the cows out in the pasture instead of a mass milking area filled with God-knows-what. Then between milkings, the machine is steam cleaned instead of doused with chemicals to be sterilized. I can’t imagine a safer, more God intended way to drink this nutritious beverage.
You really should do some research on the subject. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to, but spouting off about the unproven dangers does nothing more than make you sound like a governmnet drone.
I have strong feelings that humans should not drink milk from any animal past the age which one finishes breastfeeding (and while breastfeeding, human breastmilk only,) but I do appreciate the fact the French have two things correct: everything in moderation, and daily exercise/activity. People think of the three, four, even five hour dinners the French partake in but they don’t realize that each course is, in fact, pretty small- snack size, even. They take the time to eat instead of shoving food into their mouths while driving, and in doing that, they let their bodies recognize that it is full whether their plate is empty or not. That’s the French Paradox: everything in moderation. Unfortunately, most of us have this “empty-plate” mentality that we need to beat.
The french know whats up. When I was traveling over there raw milk was plentiful and so were raw milk products like cheese and butter. Yes the portions are small at meal time but they skimp out on the fat content either. One other thing that struck me was that the children there in the schools are given a vast array of differing foods that offer variety to the taste buds… anchovies, olives, smoked ham, etc which is a big difference to what our children are served in school (ie. chocolate sugary milk, plain old sandwiches, etc)
I believe that humans past puberty are not meant to drink milk. Milk transformed by beneficial bacteria–cheese, yoghurt, and the like– is another story, and raw milk is perfect for cheese making. But drinking raw milk is a bad idea–why do you think Louis Pasteur developed pasteurization? If you think this is government propaganda, would you accept Mother Jones’s opinion? http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/09/is-raw-milk-safe-e-coli
By the bye, spent mash (wort) from distilleries and breweries is still used as animal fodder, mostly for pigs; it is highly nutritious and not rotten or putrid. But it is grain, so cows should not eat it.
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