The following article by Thomas Cowan, MD is from the Summer issue of the
"The Health Journal" put out by the Price Pottenger Nutritional Foundation
(PPNF) and is a publication I recommend highly. To subscribe write to PPNF
P.O.Box 2614 La Mesa, CA 91943-2614. (619) 574-7763. Subscription is $35 -
students $25.

"As I'm sure most of you know by now there are very few subjects as
emotionally charged as the choice of one's diet. Sexual relations, marriage
and finances come to mind as similarly charged subjects and, like diet, we
are all sure we know all we need to know about these subjects. The subject
of milk, as I have discovered during the past four years, when properly
viewed will challenge every notion you currently have about what is good
food and what isn't.  The story of milk is complex and goes something like
this.

Back in the preprocessed food era (i.e. before about 1930 in this country)
milk was considered a highly prized food, especially for children. Not only
was there an entire segment of our economy built up around milk but, as I
remember, each house had its own milk chute for the delivery of fresh milk
directly to the house. It was unquestioned that milk was good for us and
that a safe plentiful milk supply was actually vital to our national health
and well-being. It was also a time (now I,m referring to the early part of
the century) when many of the illnesses which we currently suffer from were
rare.  As an example, family doctors would often go their whole careers
without seeing a patient with significant coronary artery disease, breast
or prostrate cancer, whereas current doctors can hardly go one month
without encountering a patient with such a illness. Furthermore, as
scientists such as Weston Price, DDS, had discovered, there were pockets of
extremely healthy, long-lived people scattered about the earth who used
dairy products in various forms as the stapple of their diets - further
evidence that milk and its byproducts were amongst the most healthful foods
man has ever encountered.

If we fast forward to the 1980's, we now find an entirely different
picture. For one, there have been numerous books written in the past decade
about the dangers of dairy products - the most influential being a book by
Frank Oski, MD, the current chairman of Pediatrics of Johns Hopkins
University and perhaps the most influential pediatrician in this country.
It's called "Don't Drink Your Milk". In it Oski pins just about every
health problem in children to the consumption of milk, everything from
acute and chronic ear infections, constipation, asthma, eczema, and so on.
Secondly, just about all patients I have now in their initial visit proudly
announce that they have a good diet and that, specifically, they don't eat
dairy (which they pronounce with such disdain).  One might well ask here
where is the truth in this picture.  Perhaps the experiments of Dr. Francis
Pottenger in the 40's can help to solve this mystery.
In these experiments of Dr. Francis Pottenger fed one group of cats a diet
consisting of raw milk, raw meat and cod liver oil. Other groups were given
pasteurized milk, evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk instead of
raw milk.  The results were conclusive and astounding.  Those that ate raw
milk and raw meat did well and lived long, happy, active lives free of any
signs of degenerative disease.  Those cats on pasteurized milk suffered
from acute illnesses ( vomitting, diarrhea) and succumbed to every
degenerative disease now flourishing in our population, even though they
were also getting raw meat and cod liver oil.  By the 3rd generation a vast
majority of the cats were infertile and exhibited "anti-social" behavior -
in short they were like modern Americans.

Since the 40's the "qualities" of milk have been extensively studied to try
to find an explanation for these dramatic changes.  Studies have shown that
before heating, milk is a living food rich in colloidal minerals and
enzymes necessary for the absorption and utilization of the sugars, fats
and minerals in the milk. For example, milk has an enzyme phosphatase that
allows the body to absorb the calcium from the milk and lactase, an enzyme
that allows for the digestion of lactose.  Milk has a cortisone like factor
which is heat sensitive (i.e. destroyed by heat) in the cream that prevents
stiffness in the joints. Milk has beneficial bacteria and the lactic acids
that allow these beneficial bacteria to implant in the intestines.  All of
these qualities are lost during pasteurization.  Once heated, milk becomes
rotten, with precipated minerals which can't be absorbed (hence
osteoporosis), with sugars which can't be digested (hence allergies), and
with fats which are toxic.

Raw milk has been used in therapy in folk medicine - and even in the Mayo
Clinic for centuries. It has been used in the pre-insulin days to treat
diabetes (I've tried it - it works), as well as eczema, intestinal worms,
allergies, and arthritis, all for reasons which can be understood when we
understand just what is in milk such as the cortisone like factor for
allergies and eczema.

Another way we ruin milk is by feeding cows high protein feed made from
soybeans and other inappropriate foodstuffs.  Rarely is anyone truly
allergic to grass-fed cow's milk.

Fresh raw milk, from cows eating well-manured green grass is a living,
unprocessed whole food.  Compare this to the supposedly "healthy" soy milk
which has been washed in acids, alkalis, ultrapasteurized, then allowed to
sit in a box for many months.

The Pottenger cat studies provide a simple but profound lesson for all
Americans: Processed, dead foods don't support life or a happy
well-functioning society.  We must return to eating pure, wholesome,
unprocessed foods.

In my practice I ALWAYS start here - I encourage, insist, even beg people
to eat real foods - no matter what the problem.  Often with just this
intervention the results are gratifying.  SO, find a cow, find a farmer,
make sure the cow (or goat, ILama, or whatever) is healthy and start your
return to good health!"

Best, Peter
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