This article in today's Arizona Republic caught my interest. I thought it was for comedic value, but I actually learned something. It's an article about an increased demand for raw unpasteurized milk and raw organic unpasteurized milk.
First of all, raw milk is not necessarily organic milk:
With both raw and raw organic milk, there is nothing done to the milk between the time it leaves the cow and the time it is sealed into a bottle. However, with raw organic milk, the cows are not given hormones and they get a special organic feed, which supporters say makes for healthier milk. Then raw milk is supposed to offer all these great health benefits:
njy Tawa, 43, of Scottsdale, is a black-market buyer. She orders Organic Pastures milk through an underground group of devotees in hopes that a raw diet will help rid her body of breast cancer.
After being diagnosed with a malignant tumor, Tawa skipped the traditional route of chemotherapy and radiation in favor of an all-raw diet. And she said she feels great.
"They wanted to pump me full of poison and cut my breast off," Tawa said. "I've got cancer, but I'm not going to die for it. There are people out there who have cured their own cancer this way."
snip
Raw-milk fans credit the beverage as the cure for everything from allergies and asthma to eczema and cancer. However, Mesa physician Gary Knighton doesn't think raw milk is a good idea.In case you're wondering, the FDA is tracking how many people get sick from milk:
According to the FDA, 300 people got sick from eating or drinking raw-milk products in the United States in 2001, and 200 became ill in 2002.Damn Californians.
To those people that believe a raw diet is going to cure them, I remind them of one thing. Sure hundreds of years ago, we ate a lot of things raw, but look how many of us got things like food poisioning.
Having celiac, I have to shop more at these organic stores like Wild Oats, Sprouts, and Trader Joes. Sure it sucks that I can't buy a single marinade or can of soup off the general grocery store. But I'm not about to start drinking raw milk to cure me.
BTW: Amy's makes very good foods - and some are gluten-free. The corn chowder was yummy!!!
