Hi Susan,

Susan Carmack wrote:

> I am in Maple Ridge, BC, Canada
>
> >> >I have not suffered any symptoms of lactose intolerance or casein problems
> >> >that are obvious.

Not all suffer "obviously" because some still produce much less lower
amounts of both rennin and lactase. Milk is nevertheless also a burden
on the digestion of these people (i.e. cows' milk rather than milk
which is more like human milk..such as sheeps' milk). Cowmilk contains
300 times more casein than human milk as it is intended for the rapid
growth of calves.

> I have to amend the above statement. I became somewhat bloated drinking raw
> milk from a cow. I am very interested in what the concensus is on raw milk
> on this list. I am a little confused because the livefood list that goes to
> We Want To Live by Aajonus Vonderplanitz advocates raw milk products. Sally
> Fallons's Nourishing Traditions advocates raw milk but cultured with piima.

The dairy industry also advocates milk and brainwashes you in
commercials and advertisements that you are just about killing your
child unless he or she drinks milk. They even suggest your child eats
chocolate bars in the school break with that "extra milk". What
they fail to tell you is that almost every cow is treated with
antibiotics, for example, because they get sore teats from the milking
machines (known as mastitis). You either get the pus in your milk
(which you do up to a certain level in most cases anyway) or you
get both the pus and the antibiotics used to "cure" the problem.
This also applies to cows which are raised "biologically" and
"organically" because it is a legal requirement. The public
misuse of antibiotics (i.e. either consciously for even "curing"
non-bacterial infections such as a simple flu..or unconsciously
through the consumption of meat and dairy) has led to a situation
where most antibiotics are now ineffective and new ones are hard
to find. I personally reject all antibiotics but the majority do
not...and in fact are depenedent on them.

> Of course the Paleodiet advocates no milk.

The paleo-diet does not advocate anything. The paleo-diet is our
original and proper diet (although their is argumentation as to
what exactly this diet was). It is certainly true (and nobody
can deny this) that early man never attempted to suck the teats
of any wild animal (and lived to tell the tale). ;-)

> So I am becoming bewildered.
> The raw milk doesn't seem to affect the kids adversely, but I don't want
> them to drink it if it is going to be detrimental to their development.

There are many studies which claim raw milk to be the cause of higher
mucus production, for example (and the production of mucus is normally
a defense mechanism). This often causes earaches (through infections
via the Eustachian tubes) and the "snotty kid" syndrome. Such complaints
are considered by most to be "natural" in children because they have
been fed cowmilk for so long. That such complaints generally disappear
when kids are not given cowmilk seems to have escaped the attention
of most. The dairy industry also claims that cowmilk is necessary for
the protein and hence the growth of children (not to mention strong
healthy bones). If this is the case, why do babies wean off of milk
(they instinctively reject it...mother's milk.. after a few years)
and why does no other mammal drink milk after weaning off and why
are the strongest creatures with the heaviest bones on this earth
(elephants, buffalo, gorillas) strict vegetarians?

Best regards,

Alan