Becky: From the KBIA Health & Wealth Desk, I’m Rebecca Smith. It’s time for our monthly series, Socially Transmitted, where we take a deep dive into the science behind online health trends and claims.
This month we are taking a look at raw milk. My colleague Najifa Farhat looked into the issue, but before we get into the actual health questions, Najifa — I hear the term thrown around a lot, but what actually IS raw milk?
Socially Transmitted is a series where KBIA looks into the science behind online health advice and trends.Have you seen or heard something online that’s left you puzzled?
Or something you want to know more about? If so, give us a call or shoot us an email at news@kbia.org.
Najifa: Raw milk is simply a milk that humans drink without pasteurizing it – in other words, heating the milk to kill the bacteria first. Most commonly we refer to cow milk but it can be milk from other animals too such as sheep, camels or goats.
And for the context of our discussion, any milk products such as cheese made directly from raw milk also fall in this category. Milk has been heated for more than 200 years to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses. Here’s how MU Health Care infectious diseases physician Dr. Brian White describes it:
Dr Brain White: The process of pasteurization was first developed in the late 1800s by a guy named Louis Pasteur, for whom it was named after. And then it didn't become really standard practice until 1924 in the United States. And over the last more than 100 years that pasteurization has been part of the standardized practice. We've actually seen decrease in milk related illnesses. And we've also seen decrease in our infant mortality. And pasteurization has been part of the benefit or contributing factors to that.”
Becky: I guess before pasteurization was invented, people were just drinking raw milk? We cannot really say it’s a “new” trend. So why are we talking about it now?
Najifa: Well raw milk is being promoted as a “superfood” as a part of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. Lots of influencers are sharing what they perceive as benefits on social media and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior is also a prominent champion of this trend. But Dr White says none of these trends are backed by science.
Dr Brain White: There's not been any new science that has indicated that raw milk is better for you now or that it has any more nutritional benefit or anything like that. None of that has been published recently. Every year there are outbreaks that are linked to raw milk consumption. And the raw milk by itself, according to one study from a few years back, puts people at an increased risk of about 840 times the risk of foodborne illness from using pasteurized products. And that also includes a 42 times the risk of being hospitalized due to illness from food or from pasteurized products or compared to pasteurized products. So it's a pretty significant risk and so there it is a it still is a concern.
Becky: So, Najifa - lately you’ve been reporting a lot on the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak that’s linked to vegetables and fruits. And just last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeños.
So, I think it would be fair to say that food safety and foodborne illness have been on a lot of folks' minds. On that note, what are some of the concerns doctors have about raw milk?
Najifa: According to the Food and Drug Administration and other established science, there has been no evidence that raw milk provides any more added benefit than pasteurized milk. Both types provide similar nutritional value, but the difference lies in eradicating the risk factors that raw milk brings. Dr White says people have this tendency of seeing anything raw or natural as automatically “healthy” for us. But he says not all natural things are good for human beings.
Dr Brain White: This term natural is very tricky because people hear the word natural and they think automatically it means safe. And unfortunately, we don't have data to confirm that necessarily. one of my goals today is to emphasize the importance of pasteurization is good. It reduces the risks of foodborne illness. And if people start consuming more if raw milk and raw dairy product consumption increases, then there will absolutely be increase in foodborne illnesses. And there will absolutely be an increase in milkborne illnesses specifically, and we will see that.
Becky: Okay - so, raw milk has a lot of dangers. Is there any group most at risk?
Najifa: So, Dr White really emphasized that raw milk is not good for human health – period. Children are especially at high risk of milkborne illnesses and he says the biggest concern is that by not killing bacteria in milk, there’s a risk of health conditions that we’ve almost eradicated in the US are becoming more common!
Dr Brain White: We've seen significant decrease in infant mortality as well as foodborne illnesses because of the pasteurization process. Now we've seen decrease in things such as like brucella or brucellosis, which was a very unfortunately a common illness years ago. There also used to be tuberculosis that would spread from cattle into people via the milk products and that really is not a common thing anymore.
Becky: Najifa, thanks so much for looking into this!
Have you seen or heard something online that’s left you puzzled? Or something you want to know more about? If so, give us a call or shoot us an email at news (at) kbia (dot) org.
Becky: I’m Rebecca Smith.
Najifa: And I’m Najifa Farhat. KBIA News.
