Social media influencers are hyping the health benefits of raw milk, and its sales have surged in recent months. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drinking raw or unpasteurized milk is risky and can even be deadly.
The raw milk trend coincides with the outbreak of bird flu affecting U.S. cow herds and the recent news that at least 171 people were sickened by salmonella in raw milk sold by Raw Farm in Fresno, California, according to the California Department of Public Health.
“TikTok’s seemingly new obsession with raw milk might be one of the most dangerous and misinformed food trends of 2024,” says registered dietitian Abbey Sharp, who has tried to correct the widespread misinformation about raw milk on her website Abbey’s Kitchen and YouTube channel.
The demand for raw milk also appears to be fueled by the current demonization of ultra-processed foods, and it seems to enjoy a reputation of being more “real” than pasteurized milk.
[READ: Popular and Dangerous Social Media Diet Trends.]
What is Raw Milk?
Raw milk comes from cows, sheep, goats or other animals and has not been heated to kill harmful bacteria. It’s also not homogenized, a process that emulsifies the milk fat to prevent the cream from rising to the top.
Raw milk is the focus of several movements to generate consumer interest and fight policies that ban the sale of raw milk, including the Campaign for Real Milk, a project of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a group that has long held controversial positions on nutrition.
The Raw Milk Institute is another group touting the purported health benefits of raw milk and is encouraging farmers to make a switch to raw milk.
Drinking raw milk has also been promoted by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who says he drinks raw milk exclusively and has pledged to protect farmers’ rights to sell raw milk.
Raw milk legislation to allow more retail and on-farm sales has intensified. This advocacy appears to be paying off, as weekly sales of raw milk have increased 35% compared to the same time a year ago, according to the market research firm NielsenIQ.
Before you jump on the raw milk bandwagon, here’s what you need to know.
[Read: Which Milk Is the Healthiest?]
Is Raw Milk Safe?
Even if farmers have safety protocols and testing in place for their raw milk, pathogenic bacteria can still be hiding in the milk, says Utah-based microbiologist Weston Hutchison, who has posted several videos on TikTok trying to correct the misinformation about raw milk.
“It’s not safe, it’s a higher risk than you need to take and there’s no nutrition benefit,” he says.
The CDC calls the growing popularity of unpasteurized dairy products a serious public health concern. Harmful bacteria that can be found in raw milk include:
— Salmonella
— E. coli
— Listeria
— Campylobacter
— Staph aureus
— Brucella
Consuming raw milk may result in vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, which are common symptoms of foodborne illness. Raw milk is also linked to serious complications including tuberculosis and typhoid fever, along with paralysis, kidney failure, stroke and even death.
The Food and Drug Administration says raw milk can be especially dangerous to:
— Children
— Older adults
— People with weakened immune systems, such as transplant patients and individuals with HIV/AIDS, cancer and diabetes
[READ Food Safety 101: How to Protect Yourself Against Foodborne Illness]
Raw Milk Facts
While raw milk currently makes up only 1% of total milk sales, those figures could increase if people do not understand the risks of consuming raw milk. A new national survey found that fewer than half of U.S. adults know that drinking raw milk is less safe than drinking pasteurized milk. Nearly a quarter of Americans (24%) thought raw milk was as safe or safer than pasteurized milk, and 30% were unsure.
However, CDC research shows that raw milk and raw milk products are 840 times more likely than their pasteurized counterparts to sicken those who consume them. Raw milk was linked to 202 outbreaks causing 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations from 1998 through 2018, the CDC reports. State laws resulting in the increased availability of unpasteurized milk are associated with more outbreaks and illnesses.
The glamorization of raw milk is part of the anti-authority movement that is skeptical of credentialed experts, including conventional healthcare, Sharp says.
“Anecdotes are not science,” she says. “It is dangerous to recommend people do their own research by reading anti-science Reddit threads or blogs and watching creators on TikTok with no healthcare credentials.”
Raw milk providers are also spreading misinformation, including Raw Farm which was implicated in the recent salmonella outbreak. For instance, their website is riddled with inaccurate claims and warns of the “dirty tricks” by the “corrupt FDA.”
Correcting Raw Milk Myths
Raw milk advocates falsely claim that pasteurization destroys nutrients. Claims that raw milk can cure lactose intolerance, allergies and asthma are also not true. Here’s the truth behind some of the popular claims:
— Pasteurization does not destroy the nutrients in milk.
— Raw milk does not contain probiotics.
— Raw milk isn’t easier to digest and doesn’t cure lactose intolerance.
— Drinking raw milk will not prevent allergies or asthma.
— Raw milk will not build stronger immune systems in children.
Pasteurization does not destroy the nutrients in milk
Perhaps the most frequent claim is that pasteurization strips all the nutrients in milk. Some raw milk influencers say pasteurized milk is “dead.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.
“The nutritional profile of pasteurized milk is virtually identical to unpasteurized milk, says Hutchison.
A meta-analysis of 40 studies confirms this. Results found that certain water-soluble vitamins, especially vitamin C, may be impacted by the heat used in pasteurization, yet milk is not a significant source of those nutrients. Studies show that pasteurization actually increased the concentration of vitamin A in milk.
Instead of fewer nutrients in pasteurized milk, the opposite is likely true. Pasteurized milk is routinely fortified with vitamin D, which is an essential bone-building nutrient that is low in raw milk. The protein, minerals and most vitamins in milk are not impacted by pasteurization. One cup serving of milk is a good or excellent source of 13 nutrients.
Raw milk does not contain probiotics
Another common claim involves the supposedly gut-healthy probiotics in raw milk. Yet, that’s not true either.
None of the bacteria in raw milk meet the scientific criteria to be classified as a probiotic, including a defined strain of microbes with a documented health benefit, says Chris Cifelli, senior vice president of nutrition research for the National Dairy Council.
What you will likely find are pathogenic bacteria that could lead to foodborne illness, he says.
If you’re looking for good bacteria, it’s a lot safer to consume probiotic-fortified pasteurized dairy products like yogurt or kefir, says Sharp.
Fluid milk is typically not a source of probiotics, but some new products are beginning to add probiotics after pasteurization, including Good Culture Probiotic Milk, which is ultra-pasteurized. This is a process that heats milk to a higher temperature to extend the shelf life.
Raw milk isn’t easier to digest and doesn’t cure lactose intolerance
Lactose, the natural sugar in milk, is found in both raw and pasteurized milk. People with lactose intolerance lack the enzyme lactase to properly digest lactose. TikTok creators are posting videos saying they’re healing their lactose intolerance with raw milk, but there’s no scientific evidence to support this claim.
Some raw milk advocates claim pasteurization destroys the lactase enzyme, which they say is secreted by probiotics. However, raw milk does not contain lactase or probiotics. Our bodies produce lactase, we’re not getting it from milk. Fermented dairy products like yogurt may be easier to digest because the probiotics do provide some lactase to help digest the milk sugar.
Stanford researchers compared raw and pasteurized milk among people with lactose intolerance and they found no difference in symptoms.
“If you are lactose intolerant and want to buy raw milk, it’s not going to help nor is it beneficial to your gut,” says Sharp. “If anything, getting a bad case of salmonella is probably going to do a real number on your digestion and wipe out the beneficial microbiome colonies you do have.”
Drinking raw milk will not prevent allergies or asthma
If you’re allergic to store-bought milk, you’ll be allergic to raw milk, too. Pasteurization does not change the allergenicity of milk protein. Research revealed that children with cow’s milk allergies had the same allergic reactions to raw and pasteurized milk.
Other videos on social media tout raw milk as a way to prevent asthma and certain allergies in children, such as eczema. These claims are the result of misinterpreted findings from a large European study called PARSIFAL, which Sharp says “has been misquoted and misused by raw milk advocates to confirm their beliefs.”
The five-country study compared nearly 15,000 children in suburban and rural environments. Results found an inverse association of farm-produced milk with asthma and allergy. However, the authors say “the present study does not allow evaluating the effect of pasteurized vs. raw milk consumption because no objective confirmation of the raw milk status of the farm milk samples was available.”
In reality, about half of the farm milk used in the study was boiled. The authors warn that raw milk may contain pathogens and its consumption could result in serious health risks. “Consumption of raw farm milk cannot be recommended as a preventive measure,” they conclude.
“The study findings are not that surprising considering that living on a farm, in general, is associated with lower rates of allergy and asthma by creating early life opportunities for allergen exposure,” says Sharp.
Raw milk will not build stronger immune systems in children
Some of the most alarming TikTok videos feature parents who boast about giving raw milk to their young kids, which is one of the groups most vulnerable to the risks of foodborne illness.
Contrary to the TikTok influencers’ claims, raw milk does not contain natural antimicrobial compounds that kill pathogens and make it safe to drink. And as the FDA indicates, there are no immunoglobulins in raw milk that enhance the immune system.
One recent UC Davis study found that raw milk can hold a huge amount of antimicrobial-resistant genes if left at room temperature. This is especially alarming after watching one TikTok creator who said raw milk never goes bad and claimed that it simply turns into buttermilk. This is incredibly harmful advice since pathogenic bacteria will have more time to multiply and cause illness.
The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends against children drinking and eating raw milk products, says Cifelli.
“Pasteurized milk offers the beneficial nutrition of milk without the substantial risk of foodborne illness,” he said.
Risks Outweigh Raw Milk Benefits
“I think a lot of the increase in the popularity of raw milk comes from a large misunderstanding of what pasteurization is,” says Hutchison.
These raw milk enthusiasts tend to say that “our ancestors drank raw milk and they were fine” he says, but they ignore the long history of milk-borne illnesses that fatally infected infants and children before Louis Pasteur created pasteurization in the 1860s.
You cannot tell if pathogenic bacteria are present in milk just by looking at it, smelling it, or tasting it, says Hutchison. Only laboratory tests can detect pathogenic bacteria like salmonella or listeria that could make you sick.
These pathogenic bacteria differ from the microorganisms that grow in milk that you’ve kept too long in your refrigerator, which has curdled and smells. You won’t be able to smell the pathogenic bacteria.
The best-selling author John Green is also alarmed by the onslaught of raw milk influencers on TikTok. He posted a recent video sharing two memoirs of women who contracted tuberculosis from drinking raw milk, ending with the message: “There is a reason we pasteurize milk.”
As a registered dietitian, I am baffled and extremely concerned to see so much enthusiasm for raw milk by uncredentialed wellness influencers. There are zero benefits, with too many risks. If only we had the same level of enthusiasm for regular milk we wouldn’t have an epidemic of calcium deficiency in this country.
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What to Know About Raw Milk originally appeared on usnews.com
