Should You Drink Raw Milk?
Misconceptions of its supposed benefits have been swirling. But simply put, drinking raw milk can put your health at serious risk.
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With the increased interest in eating locally grown and unprocessed food, drinking raw milk has become a trending topic. Many raw milk advocates claim that it’s healthier than its pasteurized counterpart. The raw milk movement has been growing online and sales of raw milk has increased 20 to 65 percent since 2023 according to data from NielsenIQ.
But is raw milk the best choice for you and your family? The simple answer is no — and it can actually put you at serious risk. Below is an overview of raw milk and what research shows about its touted health benefits.
What Is Raw Milk?
Raw milk can come from cows, sheep or goats, and has not been pasteurized to destroy harmful bacteria. Pasteurization is when milk is heated to high temperatures in order to eliminate bacteria that can cause illness. Pasteurization has been used for decades as a public health measure to eliminate the risk of becoming sick. In 1987, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) prohibited the interstate sale of raw milk and today 20 states prohibit intrastate raw milk sales and 30 allow it.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Veterinary Medical Association recommend only drinking pasteurized milk. This is because raw milk can contain harmful disease-causing bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and Campylobacter. In addition, raw milk can carry bird flu — which is destroyed when pasteurized.
Further, infants, young children, older adults, pregnant and lactating women, and those with a weakened immune systems are especially susceptible to illness — but healthy people of any age can also get very sick. Symptoms of illness from raw milk include diarrhea, stomach cramping and in more severe cases Guillain-Barre syndrome and hemolytic uremic syndrome, potentially leading to paralysis, kidney failure, stroke or death. In addition, there have been 143 reported outbreaks of illness resulting in miscarriages and still births since 1987. Although these are confirmed cases, there are very likely more unreported ones.
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Is There a Nutritional Difference Between Raw and Pasteurized Milk?
Research shows that there are no significant differences between the nutrient content of raw verses pasteurized milk. Total protein, protein quality and fat composition are similar when comparing the two. In addition, researchers investigated whether there are nutritional differences between raw and homogenized (processed to emulsify cream and fat so they don’t separate) milk, and found that homogenized milk is more digestible.
Does Raw Milk Offer More Health Benefits Than Pasteurized Milk?
There have been misconceptions that drinking raw milk can cure lactose intolerance, cure or treat asthma and allergies, and support gastrointestinal health. However, there is no research to support these claims — and the extreme risk of drinking raw milk outweighs the little research that exists to support any of its supposed benefits.
For example, one published study compared the allergic response in children allergic to cow’s milk, and all those children developed significant and similar allergic reactions when they consumed raw, pasteurized and homogenized-pasteurized milk.
So You Drank Raw Milk and Didn’t Get Sick
Some people who drink raw milk don’t always get sick. This is because the presence of dangerous bacteria in raw milk isn’t predictable — so you never know if you drank raw milk with a very low amount of bacteria that your body can handle. The next time you drink raw milk, you could have a high load of dangerous bacteria that can bring on illness. Even if you trust your local famer, the farm is clean or you love the store that sells it — raw milk can never be a guaranteed safe product.
Bottom Line: Given that health claims associated with raw milk are unfounded and the nutritional quality of pasteurized milk is the same as raw, your best bet is to choose pasteurized milk for your health and safety.
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