My son has some pretty severe food allergies, including dairy. Through all the research I’ve done the cause is still unknown to me. All the allergist said was a child with a parent who is prone to allergies is 50% more likely to develop them. He’s healthy other than that and I strive to give him the healthiest lifestyle possible.
The reason I decided to leave a comment is because My son is allergic to milk-based formula, cheese, even goat’s milk yogurt. He breaks out in hives all over his face if he eats it. We started eating cheese made from raw milk before I found out about his allergies. It’s the only form of dairy he’s never reacted to. From what I’ve read, pasteurization destroys most of the enzymes essential for digestion of the milk.
Allergies are a tricky subject, all the research I’ve done has an equally valid, contradicting study opposing it. But I know from experience that raw milk is tolerable in the case of my son, where as everything else isn’t .
There’s an amazing book called the Resourceful Mother’s Guide to Healthy Kids by Meredith Deasly. It’s been immensely helpful to me in my search for answers.
]]>You bet I have an opinion!
Is it correct?
I don’t know, hence the need for more studies.
We all form opinions based on the evidence available to us, and a number of other things besides.
Obviously the author of the comment above has an opinion as well, and that’s fine.
It is important to separate opinion from fact, and I hope the article above is successful in doing so.
I do disagree with the idea that raw milk drinkers are healthy simply because of other aspects of their lifestyle.
Milk is full of complex and extremely fragile components. These components are destroyed by processing.
Processing has its advantages of course, allowing the very large distribution of a pathogen-free supply of milk.
Right beside that are the disadvantages. I’ve heard of many, which I am not outlining here because it will take some research to verify information before typing out random, and possibly inaccurate facts.
In any case, the debate is open:
]]>The author has indicated a desire to see comparative studies before believing the “propaganda” regarding dangers of raw milk. Yet, in the absence of such studies, the author has clearly managed to form an opinion instead of suspending belief. I too would like to see comparative studies. I suspect that the reduced incidence of allergies among raw milk drinkers is due to correlation, not causation. That is, I suspect there are other factors involved (i.e., maybe raw milk drinkers have a generally healthier lifestyle than other groups, or maybe they are incidentally exposed to more allergens, thus building immunity.)
The author’s discussion of the risks of raw milk is incomplete, uneducated and obviously biased. I would encourage readers to explore this issue more carefully before consuming raw milk or (more importantly, because adults are solely responsible for what they eat, and it makes no difference to me) feeding it to children.
]]>