On the list of good ideas,

[draggonlaady]

this is not. Giving raw milk to a bunch of little kids. In this case, it resulted in 16 cases of diarrhea. Luckily, no deaths. There is a REASON for pasteurization; it saves lives. Use it.

Comments

[sphynx-again.livejournal.com]

well, many of us grew up on milk fresh from the cow. But no, I think deciding to give fresh milk to a bunch of kids who've probably never had it, therefore don't have the necessary enzymes and bacterias in the gut to deal with it, was not a terribly bright idea.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

I think you may be slightly misunderstanding my issue with raw milk. Contamination with campylobacter bacteria is what caused this particular outbreak. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the enzymes and normal flora bacteria in your gut. This was not lactose intolerance, this was bacterial infection--which pasteurization eliminates by way of killing the bacteria. It also prevents outbreaks of lysteriosis, tuberculosis, e. coli, and salmonella; again, these are not things that you will have enzymes to break down, no matter how much raw milk you grew up drinking.

And yeah, hundreds of thousands of people grew up drinking raw milk. And later died of tuberculosis; raw milk used to be the primary means of spreading TB. Notice how much TB we have since wide-spread pasteurization of milk was started?

The enzymes you have for digesting milk are those that break down lactose, which is slightly different than other sugars. Those enzymes certainly will stop being produced if you stop drinking milk, but that is a completely separate issue from pasteurization. Pasteurization doesn't break lactose down, it just means that the milk was heated to a certain temperature for a specific length of time in order to kill bacteria.

[sphynx-again.livejournal.com]

I wasn't thinking of lactose, more the general thought that kids just don't eat enough dirt and crap these days to keep themselves strong. :) I'm certainly not against pasteurization. Haven't drank raw milk myself in 20 years, nor am I likely to ever again. Didn't know that about TB though, that's pretty scary. Also was thinking of my seeming inability to digest red meats after 20 years of not eating it, and that that would be similar to drinking whole fresh milk for the first time ever. And would produce the same "end result."

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Case in my point: This guy and his family have been routinely drinking raw milk from their own farm. (http://www.independent.ie/national-news/unpasteurised-milk-linked-to-salmonella-outbreak-2800486.html) One would presume that if doing so gave you immunity to salmonella, they wouldn't have been ill.

[sphynx-again.livejournal.com]

I also reminisce about the "good ol' days" when we'd lay down the seats in the station wagon so we could cram more kids in it, or if the weather was nice take the truck because you could fit even more in the longbed! Doesn't mean I think it's a good idea now. In retrospect, wasn't a good idea then either. I stand corrected on the idea of immunity to milky things by way of regular exposure.

I still say kids don't eat enough dirt these days. :)