The Dangers Of Raw Milk

As a doctor, I am interesting in preventing disease as well as treating it. So I try to encourage my patients that having a healthy lifestyle is key is lessening their frequency of having allergies and asthma.What concerns me is that in the public's quest to eat healthy, some may have gone overboard. Many people who promote organic food--because it has less additives and pesticides, which is a good thing-- are now promoting a food that has potential dangers in its so-call pure state: that is raw milk.Under the mistaken belief that raw milk is better for your health, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement that "substantial data suggest that pasteurized milk confers equivalent health benefits compared with raw milk, without the additional risk of bacterial infections."Pasteurization is the term in which heating milk to a high enough temperature for a long time period to kill disease-causing bacteria has been used safely for over 100 years. And states the New York State Department of health that "pasteurization is the only way to ensure that milk products do not contain harmful bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia, Brucella, Coxiella and Listeria."In an interesting article by the FDA, it stated that CDC reported between 1993 and 2006 more than 1500 people in the US became ill due to drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk. Also the CDC stated that "unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause food borne illness and results in 13 times more hospitalizations. It is especially dangerous to people with weakened immune systems, children, older adults and pregnant women."Symptoms of people becoming ill from raw milk include: vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), abdominal pain, fever headaches and body aches. More serious reactions such as blood-stream inflections, kidney failure and inflammation of the nervous system can occur. Consult a physician in you or your children exhibit these systems.When shopping for milk or milk products, make sure to check the package to see it its states pasteurized.For more information go to: http://www.nycallergydoctor.com/allergy