The huge dairy farms that produce the majority of milk at your supermarket, raise their cows on grain (usually corn and soybeans), which fattens them quickly. This practice is bad for the cows and bad for the consumer. Grain reduces saliva, thereby causing high acidic levels in the cows' digestive tracts. As a result, grain-fed cattle often suffer from a number of health problems including intestinal damage, dehydration, liver abscesses, and even death. Cows who graze on pasture do not have the digestive tract issues of their counterparts. The roughage provided by grasses and other plants allows ruminants to produce saliva, which helps neutralize acids that exist naturally in their digestive systems.
Cows are ruminants, which are vegetarian by nature. They have a four-chambered stomach, which enables them to digest cellulose; this means that cows, unlike humans, can turn grass into important vitamins and enzymes. When industrial cows are fed grain and other additives, meant to fatten them quickly, they produce milk with high fat (caloric) content. Alternatively, cows who graze on grass and forage (plants), produce milk with lower fat (caloric) content and higher amounts of vitamins (A, D, C), minerals (calcium), antioxidants, and enzymes (lactase, which helps you digest the nutrients in the milk). Milk and dairy from pasture-raised (aka "grass-fed") cows have a healthier balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fats (that's because omega-3's come from grass and leafy greens) and as much as five times the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; sometimes called "good" fatty acid) as milk from grain-fed cows. Among CLA's many potential benefits: it raises metabolic rate, helps remove abdominal fat, boosts muscle growth, reduces resistance to insulin, strengthens the immune system, and lowers food allergy reactions.
If you want to take it a step further, there is a growing movement toward drinking "raw" milk. Raw milk has not been pasteurized. In 1862, Louis Pasteur, a French chemist and microbiologist, developed the process of pasteurization, to keep wine and beer from spoiling. During the industrial era, pasteurization was brought to the dairy farms. Pasteurization is a process of heating a food, usually liquid, to a specific temperature for a definite length of time, and then cooling it immediately, to slow microbrial growth.
Pasteurization is about 90% effective when it comes to killing harmful bacteria (though listeria is particularly resistant) in milk, and accordingly pasteurization of milk is required by law in 22 US states. However, pasteurization kills many of the beneficial nutrients available in raw milk. Additionally, pasteurization remains well-liked by farmers (and the USDA) because it preserves milk, allowing for long transport time over very long distances without spoilage. Per contra, proponents of raw milk claim that pasteurization enables farmers to be less cautious regarding hygiene during milking and transport; meaning, if farmers were more careful, the spread of bacteria would not be problematic in the first place. Moreover, raw milk contains antimicrobials that naturally destroy harmful bacteria, but which are destroyed with the heat of pasteurization, along with many of the vitamins in raw milk. Medical research indicates raw milk consumption positively influences the immune system's resistance to the development of asthma as well as numerous other diseases.
It's hard to find raw milk, but if you're interested, check out http://www.realmilk.com/where03.html. If you aren't ready for raw milk, look for milk, yogurt, and cheese from pasture-raised cows. It's good for the cows and good for you!
For more information:
http://www.eatwild.com/
http://www.realmilk.com/
http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/65483/
http://www.ninaplanck.com/books.html
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