Dangerous Effects on Babies and Moms-to-Be Have Doctors Saying "No" to Raw Milk
By Kylie McConville for TheBump.com
A new statement just released from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states that even though moms and moms-to-be have been led to believe that raw milk is healthier and more nutritious than pasteurized milk, it's actually not. Author Dr. Yvonne Maldonado and researchers found that between 1998 and 2009, more than 93 cases of disease outbreaks were associated with raw milk and raw milk products, and to date, raw milk has caused 1,837 illnesses, 195 hospitalizations and two fatalities.
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This statement means that the AAP is now joining the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), American Medical Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, National Environmental Health Association, International Association for Food Protection and World Health Organization in advising people against drinking raw milk.
The researchers found that most of the infections were caused by E. coli, salmonella or by a campylobacter infection (symptoms include diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever). "We invented pasteurization to prevent these horrible diseases," Maldonado says. "There is really no good reason to drink unpasteurized milk." Pasteurized milk has the same nutrients, proteins, vitamins and amount of calcium, and is less likely to cause these types of infections.
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So, sounds like it's easy to make the switch, right? Wrong. In recent years, raw milk advocates have pushed the benefits of going raw because it doesn't contain the antibiotics and hormones found in pasteurized milk, and because it may prevent a lactose intolerance (though there's no formal research to back this). In a survey taken in 2011, researchers found that raw milk and its byproducts are legal in 30 states, but that only a few states -- California being one -- allow them in grocery stores and supermarkets. In 1987, interstate shipments and sales of raw milk and raw milk products were banned by the FDA, but the agency is powerless when it comes to regulating products made in a state and sold in that state.
But now, a new policy backed by the journal Pediatrics, is in the works to ban raw milk on a nationwide scale.
Do you drink raw milk? Tell us why (or why not) below.
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