Why are cigarettes legal and raw milk illegal?

After reading impassioned documents from the FDA about the potential harm of raw milk, equally passionate rebuttals from the Campaign for Real Milk, and somewhat-unbiased scientific-research articles, I have decided that unpasteurized milk has gotten a raw deal (pun intended). A classic tale of intrigue, unpasteurized milk is a victim of money, power, and politics.

In the briefest of summaries, raw milk carries some risk of food-borne illness, as do all foods, but also comes with health benefits. The potential risks are miniscule when compared to the risks of, say, cigarettes, yet still raw milk is illegal in many states. The rational behind the laws governing raw milk are convoluted, as are the answers to the following Q and A.

Question #1: Is raw milk safe?

Totally convoluted answer #1: For the most part. The FDA provides a good number of case studies describing the ill effects of raw milk, including serious food-borne illness and an occasional death. Proponents of raw milk find fault with each of these case studies and disagree that raw milk was the real culprit. After reading these studies, raw milk appears to be safer than lunchmeat (which I may never eat again).

Bottom line: The safety of raw milk depends on how cows are raised, a sanitary milking procedure, and frequent testing of milk for harmful bacteria. Every raw milk advocacy website strongly recommends that consumers “know their farmer.” Incidentally, if raw milk were made legal and regulated, it would be a lot safer than the current black market milk. There are valid and reliable bacteria testing procedures, that when uniformly applied, effectively screen out any contaminated raw milk samples.

Question #2: Why is raw milk illegal in some states?

Totally convoluted answer #2: On the surface, raw milk is illegal because of controversy surrounding the safety, but I don’t think that this is the real reason. Like big oil and big pharm, big dairy has a good deal of pull. Regional big dairy associations (the “Got Milk?” people) have launched ad campaigns under the guise of public service announcements to outline the hazards of raw milk, most notably in Texas where legislation supporting raw milk has been introduced. A rise in consumer confidence in raw milk translates to revenue loss for mainstream dairy farms. Laws tend to follow the money and obviously big, factory farms out earn your small, organic, free-range dairy farmer by about a zillion to one (citation needed).

Question #3: Is raw milk a magical health food?

Totally convoluted answer #3: We’ll probably never totally know. There are a good number of studies that show that kids who are raised on farms with lots of dirty farm animals and germs are healthier than their counterparts raised in Lysol-polluted homes on pasteurized skim milk. These kids suffer fewer allergies to pollen, animals, and food; less asthma; and are overwhelmingly healthier.

As for the other health claims…. There’s a good chance that we won’t know for some time as, like laws follow the money, so does scientific research. The FDA, the same agency that vehemently opposes raw milk, funds much of the research on health benefits of foods. It’s my guess that organic, free-range dairy farmers could write grant proposals until the cows come home (again, pun intended) without receiving funding.

Question #4: Can people with lactose intolerance drink raw milk?

Totally convoluted answer #4: Not people with true lactose intolerance, but a lot of people who get an upset stomach after drinking pasteurized milk who are not truly lactose intolerant can handle raw milk. Click here for a good summary.

Question #5: Would I buy a raw-milk product again?

Finally a straightforward answer: I would need to know about where it came from, bacteria testing procedures, and refrigeration and shipment processes. In short, I do not plan on buying retail raw milk again and feel that I would need to better know my farmer.

Coming back to my original question, why are cigarettes legal and raw milk illegal? Cigarettes with their extremely well documented cancer-causing properties are legal because of money. Raw milk, with its somewhat sketchy documentation of food-borne illness and potential health benefits is illegal because it is going against big money. And in our society, those with money win.

Raw Milk: Cuddly Disease Preventing Hero or Death Causing Uber Villain?

The yogurt in question.

A few weeks ago, I went grocery shopping at an Amish market. This market is a completely unique experience with all of the cute Amish 10 year olds breaking child labor laws serving up stuffed pork chops, fruits and veggies, baked goods, and this amazing pit roasted turkey, all while wearing their traditional attire. Vendors from various farms set up shop in the open-area building and the customer pays for his or her selections in each department. A section of the market is dedicated to breads, another section to meat, other sections to furniture and jewelry, etc. My story takes place in the dairy department.

Upon entering the market, a case of prepared salads, including my husband’s favorite, Amish macaroni salad, beckons. I knew that I might as well not return home if I forgot the Amish macaroni salad, so I made a beeline for the counter. The counter wraps around into the cheese and dairy section. I grabbed a few cheeses, paid for my goods and moved to the bread department. It was after I visited the produce and meat vendors that I realized that I missed my Saturday morning farmer’s market and didn’t have yogurt for breakfast. By that time, I was in a hurry and rushed back to the dairy department, grabbed a maple yogurt off the shelf and went on my merry way.

It wasn’t until a few days and half the yogurt container later when I was preparing my breakfast at work that I fully comprehended the label. I had bought yogurt made with raw, unpasteurized, fresh-from-the-farm milk. First, I sent an email to a coworker to inform him that if I suddenly died, he should point the investigators toward the yogurt in the fridge. Then I set about eating my breakfast. This maple, full-fat, unprocessed yogurt was admittedly pretty awesome. In fact, it was awesome enough that I threw food-borne illness caution to the wind and finished the container that day. It’s now a week later and my stomach is a-okay.

I first became interested in the raw milk controversy in May when a Facebook friend posted pictures from the Rally for Food and Farm Freedom on the National Mall. People gathered for this rally to protest the government’s regulation of raw milk. For the past two years the FDA has been organizing stings on Amish farms that illegally sell or ship unpasteurized milk. The rally was organized to help protect the small farms affected by these laws and the consumers who prefer to drink raw milk.

Confusingly, both state and federal laws regulate raw milk sales. There are a myriad of baffling, ever changing state laws on the books about raw milk. (I have to disclose that the concept of state laws confuses me. I don’t grasp the purpose of different laws in different states, like why you can buy beer and wine in grocery stores in both the District and Virginia, but not in my current state of Maryland. That being said, my analysis of these state laws should be taken with a grain of salt.) Apparently cows, and their milk, are healthier and carry less bacteria in some states than others. It appears by this fancy color-coded map that cows are very dangerous in Maryland, West Virginia, Nevada, Louisiana, Montana, Michigan, the state southwest of Michigan, and New Jersey and cows in the other states are relatively safe. Unfortunately, I bought my apparently illicit raw-milk yogurt in Maryland. Damn! I can only hope that it was smuggled illegally (per FDA federal regulations) across state lines from Pennsylvania Amish country, where apparently the cows are happy and healthy. Of note, Ron Paul, an unlikely advocate for the hippie-base of raw milk consumers, recently introduced a bill in Congress to allow raw milk transport across state lines.

So, why go to all of the trouble to smuggle and protest to buy raw milk? Proponents of raw milk feel passionately that it prevents allergies, asthma, heart disease, cancer, and autism, and that it does not cause more food-borne illness than pasteurized milk, as long as it is handled correctly.

The FDA claims that raw milk is responsible for a lot of lost bodily fluids from outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli, listeria and campylobacter.

Both sides are passionate and throw journal articles and case studies around like it’s nobody’s business. Get ready for a throw down like no other!

Lessons in Artifical Sweeteners and Humility

Emerald nuts have
artifical sweeteners.

Last year, I went out for a run in the trails near my house. On the way back, about two miles from my home, I thought, “I feel great. I am a really good runner. I’m going to run even faster.” About 30 seconds later, I found myself splayed on the ground, leg scraped, elbows bleeding. I no longer felt quite as good about myself. The same thing happens to me every time I try to fix something with HTML code. I feel really good about my computer skills and then, when I preview my work and the font has suddenly increased to bold, italicized, 42 pt midparagraph, I realize that there’s a reason why I’m not a computer programmer.

Low and behold, I was feeling all proud of myself and superior about my general avoidance of artificial sweeteners last week. Then I visited my parents this weekend and they had the ginormous size of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds from Sam’s Club. (These’s almonds are nutastic, BTW.) I got out my trusty Fooducate app to see the nutritional report card while I was devouring the nuts. They got a B+. I felt even better about myself.

Then I looked at the Fooducate assessment. The dark-chocolate roasted delights contain “controversial artificial sweeteners and preservatives.” Upon closer inspection of the ingredient list, I found the culprit—the dreaded sucralose (codename Splenda). I had so many questions about this. Why would you add artificial sweetener to a product that isn’t marketed as diet? Are artifical sweeteners even cheaper than corn syrup? Why did Fooducate give this product a B+ if it contains artificial sweeteners? How much artificial sweetener do I eat without knowing?

There are really two morals to this story. First, if you avoid artificial sweeteners, make sure you check the label closely. Even if it’s not a “diet” food, it still might contain these brain-altering chemicals. Second (my personal lesson that I apparently will never learn no matter how many times I repeat it), the universe will always conspire to prove me wrong every time I think too highly of myself. Sorry universe. I am not a great runner, a computer programmer, or a perfect eater. Please stop tripping me.

This is Your Brain on Diet Soda

Can your brain be easily duped? Take this test. In the video below count how many times the team wearing white passes the ball. (Make sure you watch the whole thing).

Did you see it?

About 50% of people are fooled by this video. The brain is clearly susceptible to an occasional blond moment. In fact, the brain is a lot like Sarah Palin when asked a tough question about North Korea or Paul Revere’s ride—perpetually confused.

As it turns out, diet soda and other artificially sweetened “foods” aren’t diet after all. There are nearly 4,000 artificially sweetened products on the market right now and they are not doing a darn thing to help the obesity epidemic. In fact, obesity is increasing as fast as diet products can flood the marketplace. People who switch from regular soda to diet soda fail to lose weight, even though they remove 100s of calories from their diets. Why is this the case?

First, feeling that it has avoided calories in regular soda, the perplexed brain convinces Diet Cokeheads reward themselves with a treat. Diet soda drinkers tend to take in nearly as many calories as regular soda drinkers while they think they’re taking in less (Yang, 2010). There have been a few studies that have contradicted this (Stanner, 2010), but the majority show that people who drink diet soda eat the calories back (Yang, 2010).

That diet soda as an afternoon treat may also be responsible for a future brownie craving. Sugar works a lot like drugs—the more we eat, the more we want. The brain recognizes artificial sweeteners as sugar (dumb, dumb brain) and craves more sweetness as a result (Yang, 2010).

On the rare occasion when I have a diet soda, I feel like there’s Grand Canyon-size hole in my stomach. While the brain perceives artificial sweetener like sugar when it comes to increasing sugar cravings, the brain gets confused by the calorie void that comes with the diet drink. Diet soda activates the brain’s reward center, and then when the brain can’t find the calories, it gets confused. The brain sends a memo to the stomach about the lack of calories. In response, the stomach growls and sends the body on a quest to fill the calorie void, bringing us full circle to fact that diet-soda drinkers eat more than regular soda drinkers (Yang, 2010).

On a side note, as if the weight causing effects of both diet and regular soda aren’t enough, most self-service soda machines carry nasty bacteria. The recent study found that the majority of soda fountains contained harmful bacteria like e-coli, staph, candida (yeast) or coliform (White, 2010).

Long story short, diet soda is no better than regular soda. Go water!

Sources:

Stanner, S. (2010). The science of low-calorie sweeteners—separating fact from fiction. Nutrition Bulletin. 35; 357-362.

White, A.S., et al. (2010). Beverages obtained from soda fountain machines in the US contain microorganisms, including coliform bacteria. International Journal of Food Microbiology. 137(1); 61-66.

Yang, Q. (2010). Gain weight by “going diet?” Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 83; 101-108.