I know my last few posts have been milk related but I came across a good article which questions what is the best to drink: soy, cow's milk, raw milk, or fermented milk (kefir.) I've read so many times that regular cow's milk (homogenized and pasteurized) is not healthy to drink due to the hormones cow's are injected with as well as the percentage of pus that is allowed.
Soy milk isn't much better as most brands are full of sugar. Fortunately there are much better and healthier alternatives to the popular cow's milk and soy milk. These include:
Raw milk: not homogenized or pasteurized; contains living bacteria cultures that enhance digestion.
Fermented raw milk (kefir): a living, predigested, nutritionally superior beverage.
Raw almond milk: made from raw, soaked almonds, water, vanilla and a pinch of sea salt.
You can read the full article below. It goes into further detail about each kind of milk.
What's Best? Soy Milk, Cow's Milk, Raw Milk and Fermented Milk (Kefir)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I had the opportunity to try raw organic goat’s milk. In addition to what I’ve read about it’s nutritional benefits I think the taste was far better than any cow’s milk I have ever had.
I think the biggest obstacle for most people is that raw milk is not only difficult to get regularly in some areas the price is much higher than pasteurized rBST free milk, and even higher than organic pasteurized milk. As far as almond milk, I don’t like the taste of it as much as cow’s or goat’s milk unless it is flavored or sweetened. Plus like the article said, it is not a good source of protein which is my main reason for consuming milk.
As a public health fact, raw milk is still much more dangerous to your health. Take for instant Malta Fever–Brucella melitensis. Also know as brucellosis, goats appear healthy and show no signs of illness only the humans who consume their milk get sick (fevers, sweating, weakness, anemia, headaches, depression and muscular and bodily pain). This is not from goat milk/cheese in the US (yet) but is in goats in the neighbor to our South, Mexico. Brucella abortus from raw cow’s milk causes the same problem, luckily only wild herds have it in the US and not cattle, but it can always spread. This is the reason why milk was first pasteurized, not to make it last on the shelves longer. Many other pathogens are eliminated by processing milk that protects consumers from very real and very severe disease. Also for all the rBGH haters, there is no way it can affect humans. The minute amount that is released in milk is broken down into amino acids in your stomach and small intestine like every other protein (growth hormone is just a protein). It does affect the cattle that are given it, and may be an animal welfare issue to not give it, but in no way is it a human health issue. So I will continue to get my daily calcium from a delicious glass of homogenized and pasteurized milk