This Time Magazine article examines the growing market for raw, unpasteurized milk, and the continuing government crackdown on suppliers. Dr. Mercola is quoted as saying that raw milk is "one of the most profoundly healthy foods you can consume."

Raw-milk enthusiasts insist that heat-treating milk destroys beneficial bacteria, proteins and enzymes that aid in digestion. Others praise its nutritional value, or and its ability to strengthen the immune system.

The FDA banned interstate sales of raw milk 20 years ago. Individual states have a variety of conflicting rules and laws on the matter; 23 states prohibit raw-milk sales for human consumption, but the rest allow sales under certain conditions.

Cow-sharing programs, an increasingly popular arrangement, designed to circumvent restrictions, in which members own a share in a cow, have led state agriculture officials to confiscate milk and put pressure on producers in response.

Time March 13, 2007


Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Most people are seriously confused about milk and there is a progression of enlightenment that I would like to review. 

Most consumers believe it is healthy. There is no way one can comment if this belief is true or false until you probe more. Nearly all commercial pasteurized dairy (what most people refer to) is very unhealthy and should clearly be avoided. 

Others believe if their milk is organic all problems are solved as it is the hormones and antibiotics that are the problem. Wrong again. Pasteurization is the worst thing you can do to milk and organic pasteurized milk is just as bad as non-organic milk.

When one reaches raw milk you truly have a healthy product but even there one can have different grades. Better yet would be from cows that were nearly exclusively grass-fed. Organic certification is not typically necessary in these instances as most farmers producing this type of milk are familiar with health principles and do not require an expensive certification process to produce good milk.

Organic certification with milk (and many other products) really does not provide the level of quality that you think it does because of the tricks and perversions that big industry is able to get away with.

With respect to this Time piece I am delighted to finally be making small headway in the media and spreading the above message. The Wall Street Journal did an extensive interview with me two years ago for a front-page story on raw milk but then decided to exclude my comments.

Two years later, Time decided it was OK to include a comment from me in their latest recap of the goings-on in the raw milk movement. Varying state and local restrictions present a conundrum for consumers eager to find and consume it, and send federal government officials scrambling in some parts of America to prevent farmers from selling it. It's ironic that this healthy product is so hard to obtain, when the FDA has approved cloned cow's milk that, apparently, nobody wants.

Producers like Richard Hebron lease a portion of their cows to consumers as a way to get around state laws. But Hebron was arrested by Michigan authorities last year, in a deliberate effort, some speculate, to dry up raw milk supplies. Many of the patients in my clinic and I had previously purchased milk from Richard.

Nobody can deny raw milk consumption is growing in America, as it is one of the healthiest foods anyone could consume, by far. And, if you're unable to find raw milk in your area, visit the Raw Milk Web site to locate a source near you.

It's less allergenic, it has more nutrients, it tastes better, and it is not associated with any of the health problems surrounding pasteurized milk such as rheumatoid arthritis, skin rashes, diarrhea and cramps. Even people who have been allergic to pasteurized milk for many years can typically tolerate and even thrive on raw milk.

Related Articles:

The Real Reasons Why Raw Milk is Becoming More Popular

Why You Don't Want to Drink Pasteurized Milk

Raw Milk Meets Mainstream Media