Natural raw milk protects children from infections

Raw milk with health effects

21/10/2014

Despite the risk of bacterial contamination, raw milk protects infants from fever and infection, according to a study by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Thus, babies who drank raw cow's milk were less likely to be sick than those who drank milk. Therefore, the researchers around Erika von Mutius, Professor of Pediatric Allergology and Head of the Asthma and Allergieambulanz at Dr. Ing. from Haunerschen Children's Hospital, new methods in milk production to preserve the valuable ingredients in the milk. At the same time, the risky germs are to be eliminated. The researchers are convinced that "this is possible in the context of newly developing industrial process technologies".

Raw milk prevents fever and cold
The long-term study involved around one thousand mothers who recorded the health of their child once a week until their first year of life. "Children who drank untreated cows milk had a significantly lower risk of runny nose, respiratory infections, fever and otitis media than children who drank commercially heated milk," says study author Dr. Georg Loss. Accordingly, the risk of developing respiratory infections fell by up to 30 percent. In pasteurized milk, the effect weakened slightly, but it still protects against fever, while H-milk showed no effect. The latter is heated to 135 degrees Celsius during production and homogenized.

Immunological examination of infants for raw milk consumption
At the end of the first year of life, the young subjects were immunologically examined. Thereafter, the study concluded that infants who drank raw milk had lower levels of the inflammatory parameter CRP. "Higher levels of inflammation are associated with the development of chronic conditions such as asthma and obesity, as other studies have shown, so consuming raw milk could reduce the risk of developing asthma later," says Loss. However, he notes, "Caution should be exercised when consuming raw milk," as the untreated milk may be contaminated with bacteria, resulting in diseases such as listeriosis, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases such as EHEC, and severe renal insufficiency. That's why researchers are calling for new processing techniques in industrial milk production, onmeda reports. However, as long as these new processing technologies do not exist in milk production, they continue to apply: „Raw milk from the farm should always be boiled before consumption because it may be contaminated with pathogens such as Campylobacter or EHEC“, reports the President of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Professor Andreas Hensel.

Pregnant women, children and elderly and sick people should not consume any raw milk or products made from it, according to the recommendation of the institute. Also on trips from school classes to farms this should be considered, as Heilpraxisnet.de already reported.

Immune system is influenced by proteins of raw milk
As has been known for some time, breastfed infants are better protected against infection. "The composition of cow's milk and breast milk is very similar in many aspects," says Loss. However, it is still unclear how the positive effect of mother's and cow's milk on the immune system of infants comes about. Thus, for example, the ingredients could act with viruses, or have a positive impact on the intestinal flora, which has a positive effect on the immune system. However, cow's milk can also cause allergic reactions, which is why it is not uncontroversial. However, according to the PASTURE study, the rate of allergic reactions was just 2 percent of the examined infants.

In addition, it has been found that children who grow up with dairy cattle on a farm, less likely to develop allergies to cow's milk, so Erika von Mutius to the results of the investigation. The study involved thousands of pregnant women from rural areas of Bavaria, Finland, France and Austria, some of whom live on farms and whose children were examined until the age of ten to study the environmental effects of asthma and allergies. (Jp)