QuestionYou mentioned in a previous Q&A, to avoid raw milk/dairy in a raw diet if concerned about the health of teeth and bones. This is counter to what I have read in regards to Weston Prices research, and more specifically the presence of "activator X" or the "price-factor" found only in raw butter from pasture raised cows. We use raw butter, raw milk, and raw cultured yogurt in our diet as part of our efforts to cure and heal tooth decay. Could you please explain your concerns about raw dairy, beyond the personal taste preferences or intolerance that is mentioned in your profile.
Thank you
Emma
Answer Well, there are various obvious issues with dairy, raw or otherwise:-
1) The hormonal issues. Cows are routinely kept pregnant for much of the year so as to produce lots of milk. This results in excess amounts of estrogen in the milk etc.:-
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/12.07/11-dairy.html
I realise that the hormones and nutrients are specially designed to help calves reach adulthood within a couple of years, but humans need quite other nutrients, such as found in human mothers' milk, and then only in infancy, really.
2) The 2nd problem with dairy, raw or otherwise, is that the calcium:magnesium ratio in milk is way over-balanced. In palaeolithic times, the intake ratio of Calcium to Maagnesium was a more natural 1:1 or 2:1 ratio. Apparently, consuming too much calcium and not enough magnesium means that the uptake of magnesium into the body is reduced as a result, leading to magnesium-deficiency. I have already had one person, who had no allergies/food-intolerance towards raw dairy whatsoever, mention that he was nearly hospitalised as a result of consuming raw dairy and getting magnesium-deficiency as a result. Other RVAFers who consume lots of raw dairy, such as some Primal Dieters have admitted to consuming raw pumpkin seeds, which have a very high magnesium:calcium ratio, in order to prevent any potential problems re excess calcium in their raw-dairy-rich diet.
3) A number of current studies on pubmed have shown that even Bantu women on low-calcium diets have better bone-health than Westerners:-
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2466922/
This rather indicates that high amounts of calcium are not at all necessary for great bone-health. Indeed, apparently, other substances are needed for strong bones such as phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin D.
Also, in the past, I have come across studies which showed that countries with large dairy-intake had higher rates of osteoporosis than countries with lower dairy-intake. Granted, such studies focus on pasteurised dairy, not raw dairy, as such, but since excess calcium is the main problem and is present in both raw and pasteurised raw dairy, even raw dairy should be avoided.
4) There is some indication linking dairy-consumption to higher rates of heart-disease, re lactose causing copper deficiency:-
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WN2-4C35V1J-6X&_user=...
Lastly, of course, the main reason I warn against raw dairy so often is because, food-intolerance/allergies towards raw dairy constitute the biggest, most widely-reported issue among raw foodists in general. No other problem is as often mentioned in RVAF diet circles.
HTH,
RPG.
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