by: Dr. David Jockers
(NaturalNews) Throughout history, other mammals have supplied mankind with delicious, nutrient dense dairy foods. These included fresh cream, milk, curds & whey, yogurt, kefir, cheeses & butter. Man-made refineries that manipulate these animals and process their milk products have highly altered these once superfoods. Well educated consumers choose raw, grass-fed milk and dairy products.
Up until the 19th century, most people drank fermented raw milk. When raw milk is left out it actually ferments with beneficial lactic acid bacteria such as acidophilus. This fermentation process helps to preserve the milk and gives it a tasty sour flavor. Pasteurized milk does not naturally ferment due to the lack of beneficial microorganisms. Instead, it spoils with dangerous microbes.
Industrialized Farming
In the early 19th century these patterns began to change. Farmers saw big business opportunities in providing larger dairy yields for city folk, who had no other access to dairy products. Individuals, who were born and raised in the city, had lost the art of natural fermentation and were unfamiliar with the sour taste.
The growing city populations led to a greater increase in dairy production. This led farmers to begin to look for new methods to produce larger cows who could produce more milk. Specific breading patterns and the involvement of grain-feeds began to spring up. These methods greatly increased dairy yields but reduced the quality and nutrient density of the finished products.
Cows are meant to eat natural grass where they benefit from the chlorophyll, dense array of vitamins & minerals, essential fats and living microorganisms. Taking the roughage out of the cows' diets kills off many probiotic species while encouraging bad strains to grow in rampant amounts. Feeding these animals grains produces an increase in milk production, but it also creates a very acidic environment in the cow's digestive system.
This low pH is a perfect breeding ground for pathogenic bacteria such as E coli. The more grains a cow eats the greater the likelihood of infection. Milk borne epidemics began to increase to the point that a successful pasteurization campaign was put into action by the end of the 19th century.
Pasteurization Destroys the Life of the Milk
The pasteurization process destroys all the bacteria in the milk. This includes beneficial lactobacillus strains as well as pathogenic E Coli and others. It also destroys enzymes and denatures amino acids. This makes the milk devoid of "living nutrients." The heavy grain diet of the cow makes the milk very acidic and inflammatory. This milk also contains up to 52 different anti-biotics, pesticides and hormones used to increase milk production.
Homogenization burst onto the scene later when people demanded smooth milk that was even in fat levels throughout. This process is particularly harmful because it creates a noxious enzyme called xanthine oxidase (XO). XO passes through the walls of the digestive system and goes directly into the bloodstream. XO is highly reactive and is known to damage and inflame the arterial tissue. This inflammatory process produces arterial plaque.
Individuals in the industrialized countries completely lost touch with the knowledge and techniques of proper fermentation. Soon enough it was considered normal to drink pasteurized, homogenized dairy from grain-fed cows that were shot up with anti-biotics and hormones. Over the last 5 years consumers have begun to become educated on the tremendous nutrition present in fermented raw milk from grass-fed cows.