Raw milk and dairy products.
Just what is in raw milk? Think of it is as an oil/water emulsion. It's also known in some circles as a colloidal suspension.
To make every gallon of milk, a cow must pump from 600-800 gallons of blood through her udder. Think of that next time you pour yourself a glass. That cow poured her heart into it!
Whole raw milk's composition varies slightly among cow species, type of food and other conditions, so the figures below are only approximations.
Here's a rough breakdown in percent of total volume:
Water 87.3%
Milk Fats 3.9%
Non-fat Solids (Protein, Milk Sugar, Immune Factors, etc.) 8.8%
To make every gallon of milk, a cow must pump from 600-800 gallons of blood through her udder. Think of that next time you pour yourself a glass. That cow poured her heart into it!
Whole raw milk's composition varies slightly among cow species, type of food and other conditions, so the figures below are only approximations.
Here's a rough breakdown in percent of total volume:
Water 87.3%
Milk Fats 3.9%
Non-fat Solids (Protein, Milk Sugar, Immune Factors, etc.) 8.8%
A. Casein Proteins (~80% of Total Milk Protein-TMP)
1. Alpha s1 [30.6%]
2. Alpha s2 [8.0%]
3. Beta [28.4%]
4. Kappa [10.1%]
B. Whey Proteins (~20% of TMP)
1. Alpha lactalbumin [3.7%]
2. Beta lactoglobulin [9.8%]
3. Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) [1.2%]
4. Immuoglobulins [2.1%]
5. Proteose peptone [2.4%]
Milk Sugar (Lactose) 4.6%
Minerals 0.65%
Calcium
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Potassium
Sodium
Zinc
Chlorine
Iron
Copper
Sulfates
Bicarbonates
Trace Elements
Acids 0.18%
Citric
Formic
Acetic
Lactic
Oxalic
Vitamins/Enzymes 0.12%
1. Alpha s1 [30.6%]
2. Alpha s2 [8.0%]
3. Beta [28.4%]
4. Kappa [10.1%]
B. Whey Proteins (~20% of TMP)
1. Alpha lactalbumin [3.7%]
2. Beta lactoglobulin [9.8%]
3. Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) [1.2%]
4. Immuoglobulins [2.1%]
5. Proteose peptone [2.4%]
Milk Sugar (Lactose) 4.6%
Minerals 0.65%
Calcium
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Potassium
Sodium
Zinc
Chlorine
Iron
Copper
Sulfates
Bicarbonates
Trace Elements
Acids 0.18%
Citric
Formic
Acetic
Lactic
Oxalic
Vitamins/Enzymes 0.12%
Raw Milk Fats:
Few words are as highly charged in the food world as "fat." Perhaps "lipid" would be a better word.
In milk, more than 95% of the fats form into spherical shaped objects called globules from 0.1 to 15 microns in diameter (that's pretty tiny- a micron is a millionth of a meter, or roughly 25,400 to the inch.)
Just over 98% of the lipids in milk are in the class known as triglycerides- a glycerol molecule (glycerin) with three fatty acids (of various lengths and saturations) attached. There are ten major fatty acids found in milk to varying degree:
Butyric Acid 4 (# of Carbon atoms)
Caproic Acid 6
Caprylic Acid 8
Capric Acid 10
Lauric Acid 12
Myristic Acid 14
Palmitic Acid 16
Stearic Acid 18
Oleic Acid 18:1 (one double bond)
CLA 18:2 (two double bonds)
Milk also contains cholesterol, another controversial and dreaded word. For the most part, it's located in the cores of fat globules, and amounts to roughly 0.3% of all milk lipids. The less we get in our diets, the more our bodies make on their own. Check out Cholesterol Primer (read further below) to get the straight scoop on why this much-maligned substance is essential to our health.
Raw Milk Proteins:
Proteins are complex molecules comprised of long chains of amino acids. Depending on interactions between some of the amino acids, the molecules can twist into helical formations or pleated sheets (secondary structure). Tertiary proteins undergo further coiling and folding. When clustered together somewhat spherically, they are known as globular proteins. Fibrous tertiary proteins are formed when two or more long strands of amino acids form links along their length.
The caseins, normally highly digestible in the intestinal tract, are relatively heat stable. Being secondary in structure, and so without much complex structure to unravel, they survive the heat of pasteurization (145-160 deg. F.) fairly well. After ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization (280-305°F./138-152°C.) their fate is uncertain.
The whey proteins,including the immunoglobulins, are very sensitive to heat (heat labile) and denature well below the heat of normal pasteurization.
Incidentally, the denaturation of whey protein affects the whiteness of milk. Milk gets whiter after it's processed.
Milk Sugar:
Lactose, the first carbohydrate most baby mammals ever taste, is actually made up of two simple sugars, glucose and galactose, making it a disaccharide. Cow's milk hovers at around 5% lactose (human milk averages a bit higher at just over 7% by comparison). It's got a fairly low glycemic index (doesn't boost insulin levels very quickly) and so is better tolerated by diabetics.
As some people age, their levels of lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose, drop significantly. When they consume heat treated dairy products with no remaining food enzyme activity, they lack sufficient lactase to break the milk sugar down, and suffer numerous unpleasant symptoms, notably gas and bloating. Not fun. But raw milk, with live, friendly lactobacilli, has its bacterially-produced lactase intact, so chances are good these folks may be able to tolerate it.
Another way to enjoy the benefits of dairy with almost none of the lactose, is to eat fermented products such as yogurt and kefir. The friendly microbes, during the fermentation process, have consumed pretty much all the lactose, turning it into the sour tasting lactic acid that's such a powerful antimicrobial agent.
Raw milk cheeses are another tasty way to enjoy dairy without the lactose. Again, most of the lactose is consumed in the fermentation process.
Minerals in Raw Milk:
The mineral content of milk varies with a host of conditions as well. Soil quality, geographical location, species of cow, health of the animal- all these factors and more come into play.
Accesibility to raw milk's mineral content is dependent upon its enzymes and other factors remaining functional. Here are some approximate values for mineral levels in the average quart of raw milk:
Mineral Content per quart (Typical range):
Sodium - 330-850mg
Potassium-1040-1600mg
Chloride - 850-1040mg
Calcium - 1040-1225mg
Magnesium - 85-130mg
Phosphorus - 850-940mg
Iron - 280-570mg
Zinc - 1880-5660ug
Copper - 95-570ug
Manganese_ - 19-47ug
Iodine ~ 245ug
Fluoride - 28-207ug
Selenium - 4.7-63ug
Cobalt - 0.47-1.23ug
Chromium - 7.5-12.3ug
Molybdenum -17-113ug
Nickel - 0-47ug
Silicon - 700-6600ug
Vanadium - trace-290ug
Tin - 38-470ug
Arsenic - 19-57ug
Vitamins in Raw Milk:
Raw milk contains every known fat and water soluble vitamin. To get them all, make sure you drink whole raw milk or you'll miss those lost in the skimming process.
Vitamin C levels, already fairly low in cow's milk (typically less than 20mg/quart- about half the level found in human milk), have been shown to drop further when exposed to ultraviolet light such as from sunlight or fluorescently lights. Store it in the dark at home, and ask your store to look into UV filters for their cold-case lights. Here are some approximate but typical amounts of vitamins found in raw milk:
Vitamin Content per quart (Approximate):
A__375ug
C__19mg
D__38IU
E__940ug
K__47ug
B1__425ug
B2__1650ug
Niacin__850ug
B6__470ug
Pantothenic acid__3300ug
Biotin__33ug
Folic acid__52ug
B12__4.25ug
Enzymes in Raw Milk:
Yet another controversial topic, and important enough to deserve a website all its own, the enzymes in raw milk are crucial in making it the valuable healing food it is.
The arguments range from their having no digestive benefit because they can't withstand the acid environment of the stomach, to outright denial of their existence.
No one can truthfully or knowingly deny that these powerful but fragile protein-based substances are in milk for a purpose. Getting people to agree on that purpose is another matter entirely!
To understand their importance, it's helpful to know what enzymes are, and what they do in foods and in our bodies.
Basically, enzymes are complex forms of protein (made out of amino acids) that can change (catalyze) other substances without taking part in the reaction themselves. In digestion, for instance, they help break down starches, fats and proteins into chunks the body can use.
Here's a list of the more important enzymes in raw milk:
Amylase
Catalase
Lactase-(through bacterial synthesis)
Lactoperoxidase
Lipase
Phosphatase
Few words are as highly charged in the food world as "fat." Perhaps "lipid" would be a better word.
In milk, more than 95% of the fats form into spherical shaped objects called globules from 0.1 to 15 microns in diameter (that's pretty tiny- a micron is a millionth of a meter, or roughly 25,400 to the inch.)
Just over 98% of the lipids in milk are in the class known as triglycerides- a glycerol molecule (glycerin) with three fatty acids (of various lengths and saturations) attached. There are ten major fatty acids found in milk to varying degree:
Butyric Acid 4 (# of Carbon atoms)
Caproic Acid 6
Caprylic Acid 8
Capric Acid 10
Lauric Acid 12
Myristic Acid 14
Palmitic Acid 16
Stearic Acid 18
Oleic Acid 18:1 (one double bond)
CLA 18:2 (two double bonds)
Milk also contains cholesterol, another controversial and dreaded word. For the most part, it's located in the cores of fat globules, and amounts to roughly 0.3% of all milk lipids. The less we get in our diets, the more our bodies make on their own. Check out Cholesterol Primer (read further below) to get the straight scoop on why this much-maligned substance is essential to our health.
Raw Milk Proteins:
Proteins are complex molecules comprised of long chains of amino acids. Depending on interactions between some of the amino acids, the molecules can twist into helical formations or pleated sheets (secondary structure). Tertiary proteins undergo further coiling and folding. When clustered together somewhat spherically, they are known as globular proteins. Fibrous tertiary proteins are formed when two or more long strands of amino acids form links along their length.
The caseins, normally highly digestible in the intestinal tract, are relatively heat stable. Being secondary in structure, and so without much complex structure to unravel, they survive the heat of pasteurization (145-160 deg. F.) fairly well. After ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization (280-305°F./138-152°C.) their fate is uncertain.
The whey proteins,including the immunoglobulins, are very sensitive to heat (heat labile) and denature well below the heat of normal pasteurization.
Incidentally, the denaturation of whey protein affects the whiteness of milk. Milk gets whiter after it's processed.
Milk Sugar:
Lactose, the first carbohydrate most baby mammals ever taste, is actually made up of two simple sugars, glucose and galactose, making it a disaccharide. Cow's milk hovers at around 5% lactose (human milk averages a bit higher at just over 7% by comparison). It's got a fairly low glycemic index (doesn't boost insulin levels very quickly) and so is better tolerated by diabetics.
As some people age, their levels of lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose, drop significantly. When they consume heat treated dairy products with no remaining food enzyme activity, they lack sufficient lactase to break the milk sugar down, and suffer numerous unpleasant symptoms, notably gas and bloating. Not fun. But raw milk, with live, friendly lactobacilli, has its bacterially-produced lactase intact, so chances are good these folks may be able to tolerate it.
Another way to enjoy the benefits of dairy with almost none of the lactose, is to eat fermented products such as yogurt and kefir. The friendly microbes, during the fermentation process, have consumed pretty much all the lactose, turning it into the sour tasting lactic acid that's such a powerful antimicrobial agent.
Raw milk cheeses are another tasty way to enjoy dairy without the lactose. Again, most of the lactose is consumed in the fermentation process.
Minerals in Raw Milk:
The mineral content of milk varies with a host of conditions as well. Soil quality, geographical location, species of cow, health of the animal- all these factors and more come into play.
Accesibility to raw milk's mineral content is dependent upon its enzymes and other factors remaining functional. Here are some approximate values for mineral levels in the average quart of raw milk:
Mineral Content per quart (Typical range):
Sodium - 330-850mg
Potassium-1040-1600mg
Chloride - 850-1040mg
Calcium - 1040-1225mg
Magnesium - 85-130mg
Phosphorus - 850-940mg
Iron - 280-570mg
Zinc - 1880-5660ug
Copper - 95-570ug
Manganese_ - 19-47ug
Iodine ~ 245ug
Fluoride - 28-207ug
Selenium - 4.7-63ug
Cobalt - 0.47-1.23ug
Chromium - 7.5-12.3ug
Molybdenum -17-113ug
Nickel - 0-47ug
Silicon - 700-6600ug
Vanadium - trace-290ug
Tin - 38-470ug
Arsenic - 19-57ug
Vitamins in Raw Milk:
Raw milk contains every known fat and water soluble vitamin. To get them all, make sure you drink whole raw milk or you'll miss those lost in the skimming process.
Vitamin C levels, already fairly low in cow's milk (typically less than 20mg/quart- about half the level found in human milk), have been shown to drop further when exposed to ultraviolet light such as from sunlight or fluorescently lights. Store it in the dark at home, and ask your store to look into UV filters for their cold-case lights. Here are some approximate but typical amounts of vitamins found in raw milk:
Vitamin Content per quart (Approximate):
A__375ug
C__19mg
D__38IU
E__940ug
K__47ug
B1__425ug
B2__1650ug
Niacin__850ug
B6__470ug
Pantothenic acid__3300ug
Biotin__33ug
Folic acid__52ug
B12__4.25ug
Enzymes in Raw Milk:
Yet another controversial topic, and important enough to deserve a website all its own, the enzymes in raw milk are crucial in making it the valuable healing food it is.
The arguments range from their having no digestive benefit because they can't withstand the acid environment of the stomach, to outright denial of their existence.
No one can truthfully or knowingly deny that these powerful but fragile protein-based substances are in milk for a purpose. Getting people to agree on that purpose is another matter entirely!
To understand their importance, it's helpful to know what enzymes are, and what they do in foods and in our bodies.
Basically, enzymes are complex forms of protein (made out of amino acids) that can change (catalyze) other substances without taking part in the reaction themselves. In digestion, for instance, they help break down starches, fats and proteins into chunks the body can use.
Here's a list of the more important enzymes in raw milk:
Amylase
Catalase
Lactase-(through bacterial synthesis)
Lactoperoxidase
Lipase
Phosphatase
The Cholesterol Primer
Understanding cholesterol and its various roles in whole, raw milk, other foods, and our bodies, is not an easy task. Entire books (including a great one I'll tell you about later) are devoted to explaining this complex and controversial topic. My Primer will just scratch the surface, but hopefully pique your interest to learn more about why its presence should be welcomed, not feared.
Cholesterol is an unusual substance. Waxy and fat-like, it's classed as a steroid, a lipid (lipids are water insoluble hydrocarbons, like fat) and as an alcohol (normally water soluble). Curiously, it's almost completely resistant to water's solvent charms.
This moisture-proof characteristic is one of the many properties that make it such an important component of our cellular environment. Let's look at a few of the roles it plays in our bodies before we examine how it got such a bad rap.
It's present in all of our cell walls, providing watertight integrity and structural support, and is especially essential to electrically conductive nerve and brain cells- we can't have moisture and wayward ions seeping in and short-circuiting things.
This might explain why the nervous system is such a large repository of cholesterol, and why a diet that includes adequate amounts of it is a must for infants and small children with growing brains. Luckily, both human and bovine (cow's) milk contain plenty of it for just this purpose.
Mood and behavior are also apparently linked to proper blood levels. Studies have shown a decrease in the number of serotonin receptors as cholesterol levels lower. Serotonin is a key neurotransmitter which figures heavily in depression, among other things.
Our digestive system relies heavily on bile salts to help emulsify and digest fats. The liver makes about a quart of these a day (just under a liter) with cholesterol as a major ingredient, storing a concentrated version in the gall bladder for controlled release as foods (especially fatty ones) enter the small intestine.
Through a complex system of hormonal checks and balances, our bodies know when to make more cholesterol, and when to back off as dietary supply meets daily needs.
Forming the backbone for numerous steroid hormones manufactured in the ovaries, testicles and adrenal glands, cholesterol plays a critical role in controlling the body's stress response, defense system, sexual development, and numerous other metabolic functions.
It's also a major component of cholecalciferol (also known as Vitamin D3, made in skin exposed to sunlight), which assures proper absorption of calcium and phosphorus, maintains normal muscle tone and takes part in several immune and reproductive processes.
Other studies have shown that cholesterol can bind to and inactivate a broad array of toxic substances. This ties in nicely with the observation that low blood levels are associated with higher incidence of cancers. Makes sense that if you remove a substance which can neutralize carcinogenic substances, you're likely to see increases in tumor formation.
It's crucial to our existence. Even if we totally eliminated it from our diet, our bodies would just crank up production to supply demand. If we got rid of all of it, we'd die.
So that's the 'good' cholesterol. What about the 'bad?' Well, like so many other molecules, when heated and exposed to oxygen, cholesterol is oxidized (damaged, essentially) and takes on the unwanted ability to harm arterial linings and pile up in flow-clogging plaques.
If you've ever had powdered eggs, powdered or skim milk, crispy bacon, grilled meat, even french fries cooked in beef tallow, you've consumed 'bad' or oxidized cholesterol. It's present wherever animal products have been overheated in the cooking process, and the American diet is loaded with it. But is this the only reason circulatory disease is so high in our country today? Far from it.
In the early 1950's, Dr. Ancel Keys , a PhD oceanographer and physiologist, inventor of the K-ration military meal, and pioneer heart-health guru, reported on what he felt was a strong correlation between cardiovascular disease, blood cholesterol levels and dietary saturated fat intake.
Although controversial, the theory gave cholesterol a bad name, and opened the door for food processors, medical professionals and pharmaceutical manufacturers to begin profiting from the fear surrounding this misunderstood substance.
It's now known that cholesterol is one of the body's repair substances- an anti-oxidant band-aid of sorts. When we eat artery damaging foods like hydrogenated and trans-fat laden vegetable oils, excess refined sugar, white flour, and, of course, over-cooked animal products, 'good' cholesterol levels will rise in response to the assault, attempting to moderate the damage.
The modern day tendency to address the symptom (rather than the problem) by taking drugs to lower blood levels of cholesterol is just another misguided, but high profit, approach in our nation's unsatisfactory 'sick care' system.
When it comes to the cholesterol in fresh, clean, raw milk, you have nothing to worry about. Your body will have to make that much less, freeing it up to take care of more pressing metabolic needs.
So that's my nutshell look at our body's most famous good cop/ bad cop. To get the complete story- probably the most thorough analysis of cholesterol science available, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's book, The Cholesterol Myths lays out the entire picture in an informative, well-written manner.
It's a must read that blows the mist away, leaving a clearer understanding of this much-maligned steroid, the multi-billion dollar cholesterol-lowering industry and its impact on your health.
Kefir, (KEE-feer) a cultured dairy product similar in appearance to runny yogurt, is produced through the fermentation of milk with kefir 'grains'. (Above, kefir grains cleaned of their mucous coating.)
The grains, which look like small cauliflower, are a symbiotic combination of bacteria and yeast bound together in (ready?) a gel-polysaccharide bio-matrix. In other words, they're somewhat firm, lumpy, gelatinous blobs held together by big sugar molecules (glucose and galactose).
I'm not sure how the word 'grain' was chosen rather than, say, 'lump,' but kefir has absolutely nothing to do with cereal grains like wheat or oats.
Although still fairly obscure compared to its better-known cousin, yogurt, kefir's popularity is rising steadily. This may have something to do with a growing awareness of its supposed health benefits, which include tumor growth rate reduction, immune system enhancement and the destruction of undesirable bacterial pests in the digestive tract. It's also more digestible than yogurt because its curd size is smaller.
The history of its origins is somewhat vague, but most sources agree its birthplace was the Caucasus mountain region in Eurasia.
More About Enzymes Enzymes are complex proteins that facilitate, catalyze or speed up chemical reactions. The precise order of amino acids in the proteins from which they're made determines their shape, and their shape determines their function.
Typically, each enzyme does just one thing, so there are just about as many enzymes as there are different things for them to do. Without taking part themselves, they make possible hundreds of thousands of processes in our bodies: they can chop things up (hydrolases), put things together (ligases), split double bonds between atoms (lyases), and move chemical groups from molecule to molecule (transferases). If it's a biochemical reaction, there's an enzyme involved.
Enzymes have a life-span, just like other living things. Some only live for twenty minutes or so, while others can live for many weeks before some other enzyme comes along and seals their fate.
The slowest-acting known enzyme, lysozyme (an anti-bacterial enzyme found in raw milk), can process about thirty molecules a minute. Pretty fast, but compared to carboanhydrase, a 600,000 molecules/second speed demon, it's just an amateur... I'll bet the quick one is the twenty minute wonder mentioned above!
Every living organism needs enzymes to survive. Without them life would pretty much be impossible: the wrong substances would be made, reactions would happen too slowly- in other words, without enzymes, you'd die. And speaking of death, enzymes play a role there, too.
All plant and animal cells contain little sacs of digestive enzymes called lysosomes. When the cells die, these bags eventually break open and self-digestion begins. We know it as decay, but you can, say, throw the chicken or fish into the fridge and stave things off for a bit.
So now you know about food's own complement of digestive enzymes that help our bodies break it down. Heating food above 118°F./48°C. destroys most of these natural helpers, forcing us to make our own digestive enzymes to get at the nutrients. Having to make our own digestive enzymes puts an extra burden on our pancreas, which is typically busy enough with other metabolic needs.
I consider food enzymes to be right next to proteins, carbohydrates and fats, in importance. A fourth major food group, if you will. The late enzyme expert, Dr. Edward Howell, believed that life-span was related to the rate at which an organism's enzyme potential was exhausted. He felt the increased use of food enzymes (either from raw foods or supplements) reduced the rate of enzyme potential exhaustion.
Raw milk, especially that from grass-fed cows, has a full complement of the very food enzymes Dr. Howell held in such high regard. The short list below is far from comprehensive, and by no means implies that everyone is on the same page regarding enzymes.
This much is certain, though: heating milk substantially above the body temperature of a cow undeniably causes changes in its ingredients. Higher heat = more changes. Unwanted changes or not depends on who you ask and who pays his or her salary.
AMYLASE:
An ingredient in saliva and pancreatic juice as well as raw milk , amylase breaks down starch, glycogen and other related carbohydrates. It's also the most commonly found enzyme in plants, particularly abundant in sweet potato, corn and starchy grains like oats, wheat and barley. It appears to be inactivated by the pasteurization/homogenization processes.
CATALASE:
Involved with waste management on the cellular level, catalase rids cells of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), an unwanted by-product of cellular metabolism. A strong oxidizer, H2O2 can wreak havoc in the cellular environment. Catalase quickly locks onto it and cleaves it into oxygen and water. It appears to be inactivated at temperatures above 158° F./70°C.
LACTASE:
Lactase (a member of the beta-galactosidase group of enzymes) splits milk sugar (lactose) into the two simple sugars glucose and galactose. Found exclusively in mammalian milk, lactose is only one sixth as sweet as cane or beet sugar (sucrose).
Many people lose the ability to make lactase as they mature, so must either get it in their food or take supplements to avoid unpleasant side effects (lactose intolerance). Other folks, from regions in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East, through a helpful genetic mutation, produce the enzyme in their intestinal tracts, even as adults. The lactase in raw milk, present from bacterial synthesis, appears to be inactivated by the pasteurization/homogenization processes.
LACTOPEROXIDASE:
Identical to the peroxidase found in saliva and gastric juice, lactoperoxidase teams up with two other substances found in varying levels in milk (oxidized thiocyanate and hydrogen peroxide) to form an antimicrobial complex. I'd imagine there's tough competition from catalase for any free hydrogen peroxide floating around...
Lactoperoxidase appears to be fairly heat resistant at normal pasteurization temperatures (roughly 50% is inactivated in milk held at 158° F./70°C. for 20 minutes) but is completely inactivated at 176°F./80°C. in just 5 minutes. Lysozyme, the anti-microbial slow-poke mentioned above, is present in much lower quantities than lactoperoxidase.
LIPASE:
Actually a class of water-soluble enzymes, lipases break down fats (triglycerides) into fatty acids, and improve utilization of lipids throughout the body. Disruption of the fat globules, as in homogenization, can lead to rancidity if lipase isn't destroyed first. Pasteurization makes short work of it. It's normally inactive in raw milk until triggered by the proper pH in the digestive tract.
PHOSPHATASE:
A key enzyme in accessing two of milk's important minerals, phosphorus and calcium, phosphatase hydrolyses (breaks down with water) complex compounds in milk (called phosphate esters) to release phosphorus ions. Optimal calcium absorption is dependent on proper ratios of phosphorus and magnesium.
Phosphatase is completely destroyed at the lowest typical pasteurizing temperatures (which are also the highest needed to kill pathogenic bacteria). Food processors test for the total absence of phosphatase to determine if pasteurization was successful. Presumably, its absence also makes getting phosphorus and calcium out of the milk more difficult for our bodies.
Cholesterol is an unusual substance. Waxy and fat-like, it's classed as a steroid, a lipid (lipids are water insoluble hydrocarbons, like fat) and as an alcohol (normally water soluble). Curiously, it's almost completely resistant to water's solvent charms.
This moisture-proof characteristic is one of the many properties that make it such an important component of our cellular environment. Let's look at a few of the roles it plays in our bodies before we examine how it got such a bad rap.
It's present in all of our cell walls, providing watertight integrity and structural support, and is especially essential to electrically conductive nerve and brain cells- we can't have moisture and wayward ions seeping in and short-circuiting things.
This might explain why the nervous system is such a large repository of cholesterol, and why a diet that includes adequate amounts of it is a must for infants and small children with growing brains. Luckily, both human and bovine (cow's) milk contain plenty of it for just this purpose.
Mood and behavior are also apparently linked to proper blood levels. Studies have shown a decrease in the number of serotonin receptors as cholesterol levels lower. Serotonin is a key neurotransmitter which figures heavily in depression, among other things.
Our digestive system relies heavily on bile salts to help emulsify and digest fats. The liver makes about a quart of these a day (just under a liter) with cholesterol as a major ingredient, storing a concentrated version in the gall bladder for controlled release as foods (especially fatty ones) enter the small intestine.
Through a complex system of hormonal checks and balances, our bodies know when to make more cholesterol, and when to back off as dietary supply meets daily needs.
Forming the backbone for numerous steroid hormones manufactured in the ovaries, testicles and adrenal glands, cholesterol plays a critical role in controlling the body's stress response, defense system, sexual development, and numerous other metabolic functions.
It's also a major component of cholecalciferol (also known as Vitamin D3, made in skin exposed to sunlight), which assures proper absorption of calcium and phosphorus, maintains normal muscle tone and takes part in several immune and reproductive processes.
Other studies have shown that cholesterol can bind to and inactivate a broad array of toxic substances. This ties in nicely with the observation that low blood levels are associated with higher incidence of cancers. Makes sense that if you remove a substance which can neutralize carcinogenic substances, you're likely to see increases in tumor formation.
It's crucial to our existence. Even if we totally eliminated it from our diet, our bodies would just crank up production to supply demand. If we got rid of all of it, we'd die.
So that's the 'good' cholesterol. What about the 'bad?' Well, like so many other molecules, when heated and exposed to oxygen, cholesterol is oxidized (damaged, essentially) and takes on the unwanted ability to harm arterial linings and pile up in flow-clogging plaques.
If you've ever had powdered eggs, powdered or skim milk, crispy bacon, grilled meat, even french fries cooked in beef tallow, you've consumed 'bad' or oxidized cholesterol. It's present wherever animal products have been overheated in the cooking process, and the American diet is loaded with it. But is this the only reason circulatory disease is so high in our country today? Far from it.
In the early 1950's, Dr. Ancel Keys , a PhD oceanographer and physiologist, inventor of the K-ration military meal, and pioneer heart-health guru, reported on what he felt was a strong correlation between cardiovascular disease, blood cholesterol levels and dietary saturated fat intake.
Although controversial, the theory gave cholesterol a bad name, and opened the door for food processors, medical professionals and pharmaceutical manufacturers to begin profiting from the fear surrounding this misunderstood substance.
It's now known that cholesterol is one of the body's repair substances- an anti-oxidant band-aid of sorts. When we eat artery damaging foods like hydrogenated and trans-fat laden vegetable oils, excess refined sugar, white flour, and, of course, over-cooked animal products, 'good' cholesterol levels will rise in response to the assault, attempting to moderate the damage.
The modern day tendency to address the symptom (rather than the problem) by taking drugs to lower blood levels of cholesterol is just another misguided, but high profit, approach in our nation's unsatisfactory 'sick care' system.
When it comes to the cholesterol in fresh, clean, raw milk, you have nothing to worry about. Your body will have to make that much less, freeing it up to take care of more pressing metabolic needs.
So that's my nutshell look at our body's most famous good cop/ bad cop. To get the complete story- probably the most thorough analysis of cholesterol science available, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's book, The Cholesterol Myths lays out the entire picture in an informative, well-written manner.
It's a must read that blows the mist away, leaving a clearer understanding of this much-maligned steroid, the multi-billion dollar cholesterol-lowering industry and its impact on your health.
Kefir, (KEE-feer) a cultured dairy product similar in appearance to runny yogurt, is produced through the fermentation of milk with kefir 'grains'. (Above, kefir grains cleaned of their mucous coating.)
The grains, which look like small cauliflower, are a symbiotic combination of bacteria and yeast bound together in (ready?) a gel-polysaccharide bio-matrix. In other words, they're somewhat firm, lumpy, gelatinous blobs held together by big sugar molecules (glucose and galactose).
I'm not sure how the word 'grain' was chosen rather than, say, 'lump,' but kefir has absolutely nothing to do with cereal grains like wheat or oats.
Although still fairly obscure compared to its better-known cousin, yogurt, kefir's popularity is rising steadily. This may have something to do with a growing awareness of its supposed health benefits, which include tumor growth rate reduction, immune system enhancement and the destruction of undesirable bacterial pests in the digestive tract. It's also more digestible than yogurt because its curd size is smaller.
The history of its origins is somewhat vague, but most sources agree its birthplace was the Caucasus mountain region in Eurasia.
More About Enzymes Enzymes are complex proteins that facilitate, catalyze or speed up chemical reactions. The precise order of amino acids in the proteins from which they're made determines their shape, and their shape determines their function.
Typically, each enzyme does just one thing, so there are just about as many enzymes as there are different things for them to do. Without taking part themselves, they make possible hundreds of thousands of processes in our bodies: they can chop things up (hydrolases), put things together (ligases), split double bonds between atoms (lyases), and move chemical groups from molecule to molecule (transferases). If it's a biochemical reaction, there's an enzyme involved.
Enzymes have a life-span, just like other living things. Some only live for twenty minutes or so, while others can live for many weeks before some other enzyme comes along and seals their fate.
The slowest-acting known enzyme, lysozyme (an anti-bacterial enzyme found in raw milk), can process about thirty molecules a minute. Pretty fast, but compared to carboanhydrase, a 600,000 molecules/second speed demon, it's just an amateur... I'll bet the quick one is the twenty minute wonder mentioned above!
Every living organism needs enzymes to survive. Without them life would pretty much be impossible: the wrong substances would be made, reactions would happen too slowly- in other words, without enzymes, you'd die. And speaking of death, enzymes play a role there, too.
All plant and animal cells contain little sacs of digestive enzymes called lysosomes. When the cells die, these bags eventually break open and self-digestion begins. We know it as decay, but you can, say, throw the chicken or fish into the fridge and stave things off for a bit.
So now you know about food's own complement of digestive enzymes that help our bodies break it down. Heating food above 118°F./48°C. destroys most of these natural helpers, forcing us to make our own digestive enzymes to get at the nutrients. Having to make our own digestive enzymes puts an extra burden on our pancreas, which is typically busy enough with other metabolic needs.
I consider food enzymes to be right next to proteins, carbohydrates and fats, in importance. A fourth major food group, if you will. The late enzyme expert, Dr. Edward Howell, believed that life-span was related to the rate at which an organism's enzyme potential was exhausted. He felt the increased use of food enzymes (either from raw foods or supplements) reduced the rate of enzyme potential exhaustion.
Raw milk, especially that from grass-fed cows, has a full complement of the very food enzymes Dr. Howell held in such high regard. The short list below is far from comprehensive, and by no means implies that everyone is on the same page regarding enzymes.
This much is certain, though: heating milk substantially above the body temperature of a cow undeniably causes changes in its ingredients. Higher heat = more changes. Unwanted changes or not depends on who you ask and who pays his or her salary.
AMYLASE:
An ingredient in saliva and pancreatic juice as well as raw milk , amylase breaks down starch, glycogen and other related carbohydrates. It's also the most commonly found enzyme in plants, particularly abundant in sweet potato, corn and starchy grains like oats, wheat and barley. It appears to be inactivated by the pasteurization/homogenization processes.
CATALASE:
Involved with waste management on the cellular level, catalase rids cells of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), an unwanted by-product of cellular metabolism. A strong oxidizer, H2O2 can wreak havoc in the cellular environment. Catalase quickly locks onto it and cleaves it into oxygen and water. It appears to be inactivated at temperatures above 158° F./70°C.
LACTASE:
Lactase (a member of the beta-galactosidase group of enzymes) splits milk sugar (lactose) into the two simple sugars glucose and galactose. Found exclusively in mammalian milk, lactose is only one sixth as sweet as cane or beet sugar (sucrose).
Many people lose the ability to make lactase as they mature, so must either get it in their food or take supplements to avoid unpleasant side effects (lactose intolerance). Other folks, from regions in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East, through a helpful genetic mutation, produce the enzyme in their intestinal tracts, even as adults. The lactase in raw milk, present from bacterial synthesis, appears to be inactivated by the pasteurization/homogenization processes.
LACTOPEROXIDASE:
Identical to the peroxidase found in saliva and gastric juice, lactoperoxidase teams up with two other substances found in varying levels in milk (oxidized thiocyanate and hydrogen peroxide) to form an antimicrobial complex. I'd imagine there's tough competition from catalase for any free hydrogen peroxide floating around...
Lactoperoxidase appears to be fairly heat resistant at normal pasteurization temperatures (roughly 50% is inactivated in milk held at 158° F./70°C. for 20 minutes) but is completely inactivated at 176°F./80°C. in just 5 minutes. Lysozyme, the anti-microbial slow-poke mentioned above, is present in much lower quantities than lactoperoxidase.
LIPASE:
Actually a class of water-soluble enzymes, lipases break down fats (triglycerides) into fatty acids, and improve utilization of lipids throughout the body. Disruption of the fat globules, as in homogenization, can lead to rancidity if lipase isn't destroyed first. Pasteurization makes short work of it. It's normally inactive in raw milk until triggered by the proper pH in the digestive tract.
PHOSPHATASE:
A key enzyme in accessing two of milk's important minerals, phosphorus and calcium, phosphatase hydrolyses (breaks down with water) complex compounds in milk (called phosphate esters) to release phosphorus ions. Optimal calcium absorption is dependent on proper ratios of phosphorus and magnesium.
Phosphatase is completely destroyed at the lowest typical pasteurizing temperatures (which are also the highest needed to kill pathogenic bacteria). Food processors test for the total absence of phosphatase to determine if pasteurization was successful. Presumably, its absence also makes getting phosphorus and calcium out of the milk more difficult for our bodies.