Despite mounting evidence of the health risks in unpasteurized milk, raw milk advocates continue to tout its alleged benefits, dismissing warnings about bacterial contaminants that can sicken or even kill adults and children, as I write in the Informed Patient column today.
The situation bedevils public-health officials and food-safety experts. We know raw milk is hazardous, but we dont know what it is that drives people to consume it anyway, says Jeffrey LeJeune, a microbiologist and researcher at the Food Animal Health Research Program at Ohio State University. Dr. LeJeune is conducting a study with funding from the USDA to learn more about how consumers make judgments about milk safety.
There are tacit webs of belief that drive behavior, and everyone acts in what they believe to be a rational way, Dr. LeJeune says. We need to learn more about where they seek information, and how they decide to reject or accept it.
One problem, he says, is that physicians often have gaps in their knowledge and therefore dont warn patients about the risks. Farmers who sell raw milk also may not be aware of the scientific data about risks. And for consumers who decide to research the issue online, typing raw milk into Google returns mostly links to sites run by raw milk advocates.
Such sites attempt to debunk scientific evidence presented by the CDC and the FDA, offering up reams of data allegedly showing the benefits of raw milk. Some raw milk advocates also claim that pasteurization is harmful and destroys milks vitamins and minerals (false, according to Dr. LeJeune, the CDC and FDA) and that raw milk contains natural enzymes that kill bacteria on their own (also false, according to the experts).
In a 2009 paper in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases on the continued public-health threat of unpasteurized milk, Dr. LeJeune noted that dangerous bacteria can be carried by healthy animals, so a nice local farm with well cared-for animals doesnt guarantee safety. And even in the cleanest dairy environment, where milk is properly chilled after harvesting, the risk of contamination from bacteria cant be fully eliminated.
So why do people drink raw milk? Christine Chessen, a San Francisco mother of three who has become an activist in efforts to loosen regulations on raw milk in California, says after she and her children began drinking raw milk, they got through the winter without colds or flu.
If I hadnt seen such a difference in my own family I wouldnt have believed it, says Ms. Chessen. In states where raw milk sales are illegal, the FDA ban on interstate shipments of raw milk is forcing moms like me to get their milk on the black market or go across state lines in middle of night, she says.
But Dr. LeJeune tells the Health Blog that mothers may be less inclined to feed raw milk to their kids if they could see the damage the more serious bacterial infections from E. coli 0157 or campylobacter can cause. It can shut down the kidneys and even kill a three-year-old, he says. And for survivors, there can be really severe consequences for the long term.
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