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pastures or clean water, and the cows in city of both animals and humans develop antibod- Pasteurization
dairies were kept in filthy conditions with poor ies to adjust to their environments. As with answered
nutrition and poor animal health. Many of these the case in human breastmilk and especially
cows were fed byproducts from alcohol distill- colostrum, the milk and colostrum from cows the question
eries, leading to illness in the cows. Raw milk, and other milking animals contain antibodies. of how to
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which had been safely consumed by humans for Such antibodies are damaged or destroyed by commercialize
nearly ten thousand years, pasteurization.
became associated with the There is evidence that dirty milk,
diseases of filth and poverty, in some instances contact rather than
such as tuberculosis, typhoid, with domesticated animals focusing time
diphtheria and scarlet fever. actually provided immuno-
In the late 1800s, raw logical protection to humans. and energy
milk was accused of caus- For instance, in the 1700s on producing
ing these diseases, and two some people believed that clean milk
solutions were proposed. milkmaids who had been
Pasteurization was one of the in contact with cowpox (a from healthy
solutions on the theory that relatively mild illness) were cows.
heat treatment would elimi- protected from smallpox.
nate pathogenic bacteria in The fact that milkmaids had
the milk coming from these beautiful skin was offered
filthy conditions. The other as proof that they had not
solution was to produce the suffered from smallpox, but
milk in hygienic conditions Goddess Hathor a better explanation is that
with healthy animals. Suckling Amenhotep II. 11 the milkmaids had a daily
Many physicians realized source of superb nutrition
that raw milk was a superior source of nutri- and healthy bacteria, which conferred natural
tion for infants and children, so the American immunity and good health—including smooth,
Association of Medical Milk Commissions healthy skin.
(AAMMC) was established in the late 1800s to
ensure a safe supply of hygienic raw milk. The RAW MILK’S ROLE IN 2020
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AAMMC was in operation for nearly a century, It is important to recognize that the human
certifying medical raw milk for use in hospitals gut loves milk. We are mammals. Our human gut
and for feeding infants and children. is lacto-loving. For ten thousand years, raw milk
Pasteurization was ushered in to address has provided a source of nourishment, gut health
filthy and poisonous conditions and unhealthy and immune-boosting to mankind. When one
cows in cities. It answered the question of how hundred twenty-five years of commercial milk
to commercialize dirty milk, rather than focus- pasteurization are compared to the long history
ing time and energy on producing clean milk of highly successful raw milk consumption, they
from healthy cows. Over time, the pasteuriza- do not even register as a blip. Pasteurized milk
tion movement gained traction and became the makes up only 1 percent of the ten thousand
standard for ensuring “safe” milk, even though years of documented human milk consumption.
pasteurization is known to degrade and damage The advent of pasteurization ushered in a
many of the nutrients in milk. negative shift in mankind’s relationship with
milk as a life-giving food. Raw milk—an in-
RAW MILK AND IMMUNITY nate part of our healthy immune history—is
Unlike pasteurized milk, raw milk con- now largely missing in our sterile, sugar-laden,
sumption provided immune system advantages preservative-laced, antibiotic-abusing modern
to people. Cows and other mammals that lived diets and medical culture. Now we are in a time
in close quarters with humans mutually shared of widespread industrial food, poor nutrition,
much of the same biome. The immune systems immune depression, comorbidities and compro-

FALL 2020 Wise Traditions 95