Raw Milk from
Grass-fed Cows: Part of the E. Coli Solution, Not the Problem: An
Essay
I pay a pretty penny every week for my Organic
Pastures raw
milk. When the news hit the press this week that four
southern California children became ill from E. coli and that
my Organic
Pastures milk
was a likely culprit, I wondered for a moment whether I should heed
the health department warning and throw out the five gallons of
milk in my freezer, the four gallons in the refrigerator, and the
two pints of cream slated for ice cream and butter. We had
been drinking this batch of milk all week and seemed to be feeling
well in spite of (or perhaps because of) all that milk.
The reason I am willing to pay a premium for this milk in the first
place is the same reason that kept me from following the health
department’s advice. The milk is raw and it comes from cows
allowed to graze continuously in a pasture. Each of these
qualities increases the price tag on that jug of milk but, frankly,
each makes the milk well worth the price. In fact, both
qualities will reduce the risk that we will become sick from E.
coli.
If cows are fed grass instead of grain, they will have lower levels
of E. coli in their intestinal tracts. In a 1998 study in the
journal Science,
researchers found that not only do the intestines of grain-fed cows
produce more E. coli, but also that the E. coli bacteria from
grain-fed cattle are able to survive our own stomach acids and
wreak havoc on our intestinal tract, causing the illness found in
the southern California children.
The intestines of grass-fed cattle in the Science
study did have E. coli at
lower levels but, in addition, none of the E. coli found in those
grass-fed cattle would survive our stomach acids. In such a
case, E. coli might pass our lips, but it would never survive to
the diarrhea-causing state and kidney-failure state we all
fear. Grass-fed cattle – beef and dairy – are simply less
likely to harbor the E. coli that makes us sick. So I do pay
a premium for both grass-fed beef and dairy.
But it’s the raw part of the Organic
Pastures milk
that got them in the news this week. Most milk we see in the
market is pasteurized – cooked to kill the bacteria that can make
us sick. E. coli does not survive temperatures of 160 degrees
Fahrenheit and so cooking the milk kills this deadly
bacteria.
A problem with the health-promotion strategy called pasteurization
is that it is not a foolproof method to avoid bacterial
contamination. There are many points in the long milk
processing and distribution chain at which milk may become
contaminated. After it’s pasteurized, it may become exposed
to harmful bacteria and, depending on the storage conditions, the
harmful bacteria could multiply prodigiously.
And herein lies the rub for pasteurized milk: if it becomes
contaminated after it is pasteurized, it is a veritable breeding
ground for E. coli and other pathogens. The Journal of
Food Protection in 1997 compared the growth of E. coli
in raw and pasteurized milk and found another reason for me to pay
a pretty penny for this milk. This study took two samples of
milk – one raw and one pasteurized – and contaminated them both
with E. coli. The beneficial bacteria in raw milk helped keep the
deadly E. coli in check. Pasteurized milk has no beneficial
bacteria and so the E. coli was able to multiply.
The same beneficial bacteria in raw milk that keeps E. coli in
check in the milk samples of these studies also keeps it in check
in our intestinal tracts. If we are exposed to E. coli from eating
spinach or from any other source, the beneficial bacteria in our
raw milk will help our own bodies fight off the pathogen. Raw milk
is part of the solution to pathogenic bacteria, not part of the
problem.
So I do pay a pretty penny for my raw milk from grass-fed
cows. And apparently it’s a good thing because according to a
1999 study in the Journal of
Food Protection, even those pennies I use to pay for the
milk can be contaminated with E. coli. E. coli survived on
coins at room temperature for nearly two weeks. So pick up
your contaminated coins and use them to buy food that will help
your body fight your exposure to E. coli. I recommend raw
milk from grass-fed cows.
_______________________________
Amanda Rose, Ph.D., is Research Director of Societas, Inc. and
author of Rebuild from Depression in
Motherhood (forthcoming 2007)
IMPORTANT
DISCLAIMER: Information on this web
site is provided for informational purposes only and is not
intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician
or other healthcare professional. Consult with your physician
before making any changes to your diet.