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Dr. Rakel discusses how pasteurized milk is processed by the intestine.
Dr. Rakel:
Pasteurization is a good thing, you know. It allows us to destroy bacteria that might be harmful to us but it also destroys those good enzymes that help break down casein protein and other proteins that are often difficult to digest.
So when we pasteurize milk we actually destroy those enzymes and we expose the body to a much more intact protein that our body may see as foreign and that might trigger an immune response that it could worsen some of these inflammatory conditions in the body.
So you have to be careful. Some people actually do better with raw milk but you have to be careful because raw milk could increase the risk of infection, particularly in people who don’t have a strong immune system. I encourage people to drink goat’s milk. Goat’s milk, for some reason, is very hypoallergenic – the body seems to tolerate that quite well.
And remember, I come from the dairy state, Wisconsin, so… but we are the only mammals on this planet that drinks cow’s milk or milk from another mammal after being weaned from our own mothers. So, milk is fine in moderation but we shouldn’t be having a lot of cow’s milk protein because most of us, other than western Europeans who can tolerate cow’s milk protein or mutants.
We actually have a defect or what we call a snip in our genome that allows us to digest lactose. Most people actually do not have that gene and that’s why most of the world is lactose intolerant.
About Dr. Rakel, M.D.:
Dr. David Rakel, M.D., attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and completed a family practice residency in Greeley, Colorado. He spent the next five years in rural practice as one of two physicians staffing a 14 bed hospital in Driggs, Idaho. As medical director for Grand Targhee Ski resort in Wyoming, he developed an interest in sports medicine and received his Certificate of Added Qualification in 1999.
Dr. Rakel completed a two year fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona from 1999-2001. He joined the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine in 2001 where he teaches and practices, and is the medical director for the University of Wisconsin Health Integrative Medicine. Dave is board certified in family medicine, holistic medicine and sports medicine. He is also certified in Interactive Guided Imagery.
Visit Dr. Rakel at The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health