Hi Amanda and list:

>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!"

This was a post by Peter Brandt