Ready for Raw Milk?

2 min

Drinking raw milk appears to be gaining in popularity, but I question that it’s a good idea. Proponents make extravagant health claims for it – that it cures thyroid deficiency, asthma, and allergies, for example. Most of the claims are anecdotal; the scientific evidence for such benefits is sparse. Essentially, these ideas are based on studies published in June 2006 and August 2011 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and another in May 2007 in Clinical and Experimental Allergy. These investigations suggested that children who lived on farms and drank raw milk had fewer problems with asthma and hay fever than kids drinking pasteurized milk. In addition, a 2015 study collecting data on children in rural areas of Austria, Finland, France, Germany, and Switzerland, found that early life consumption of raw cow’s milk reduced the risk of manifest respiratory infections and fever by about a third. However, the investigation also cautioned about the inherent health hazards of raw milk.

Milk is pasteurized for a reason – to kill organisms that can cause such serious diseases as listeriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria and brucellosis. When they occur, these diseases are especially dangerous to pregnant women, children, the elderly and individuals with weakened immune systems.  In pregnant women, listeriosis can cause miscarriage, fetal death, and illness or death of newborns, even when the mother doesn’t get sick.

Proponents of raw milk claim that pasteurization reduces the nutritional content of milk. I know of no evidence that supports this. If you want to drink raw milk, make sure that it is from a grade A dairy and that the milk is tested frequently by state inspectors. Be aware, however, that in the United States, interstate sale of raw milk for human consumption is illegal and that more than 20 states ban it. (Elsewhere, raw milk can be sold under laws that vary from state to state.)

I don’t think probiotics would be protective against any disease-causing organisms in raw milk. I also suspect that lactose-intolerant individuals would find that raw milk is even less digestible than pasteurized milk.

If you’re asking if I recommend raw milk over pasteurized milk, the answer is “no.” And I don’t think cow’s milk is good for everybody, as the dairy industry would have us believe. Most adults worldwide are lactose intolerant, meaning they can’t digest the natural sugar in milk. Milk protein (casein) can irritate the immune system and stimulate mucus production, worsening allergy symptoms. Cow’s milk consumption in childhood is associated with recurrent ear infections, eczema, chronic bronchitis, asthma, and sinusitis. Even those who are not allergic to milk but have autoimmune diseases or digestive problems may find that their symptoms improve when they eliminate cow’s milk and products made from it.

Andrew Weil, M.D

Sources
Loss G., Apprich S., Waser M., Kneifel W., von Mutius E., Genuneit J., Buchele G., Weber J., Sozańska B., Danielewicz H., et al. The protective effect of farm milk consumption on childhood asthma and atopy: The GABRIELA study. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2011;128:766–773. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.07.048. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2015 Jan;135(1):56-62. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2014.08.044. Epub 2014 Oct 19. Consumption of unprocessed cow’s milk protects infants from common respiratory infections pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih/25441645/

Originally Published September 2011. Updated December 2024.