Friday, December 1, 2006

We don't sell homogenized or ultra-pasteurized milk?

There are a number of prominent brands of organic milk that are very readily available in health food stores and in supermarkets. It is great that they are organic, as it is very important to have foods from healthy animals raised in healthy farming systems. But, what about the processing?

Processing of any food (including milk) has the potential of reducing the level of healthy enzymes that are naturally present. It is the enzymes present that help with the natural digestibility and assimilation of the food.

When Louis Pasteur published his discovery of bacteria and the fact that heating could destroy bacteria, the authorities ordered the heating of milk, which came to be known as "pasteurization, " just in case TB was caused by mysterious bacteria in raw milk. As it turned out, it wasn't, but a whole industry had sprung up to pasteurize milk and so the pasteurization of milk became law.

When milk is homogenized, the process activates an undesirable enzyme called Xanthine Oxidase (XO). This enzyme is present only in homogenized dairy products. After being absorbed into the bloodstream, XO attacks plasmalogen (which helps keep arteries from hardening), and is deposited in the arteries. XO enters the body attached to fat globules in milk. Before homogenization, the fat globules are too big to pass through the intestine wall and into the bloodstream. Homogenization makes the fat globules so tiny that they easily pass into the bloodstream. Not to worry, you say - pasteurization kills the XO. True, it kills some of it, but not all. Forty percent is left in the active state.

We legally can't offer you milk that has not been pasteurized, but we can offer you milk that has not been homogenized. A healthier (and more flavorful) choice.