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What Kind of Milk Should I Buy?

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go local Even among the tangled webs of nutrition science and speculation (can you say “soaking grains”?), safe milk has got to be one of the most difficult. I bet I have more people dash a quick email or leave an unrelated comment at a post to ask about safe milk than any other food.

Why all the hype?

First of all, it is awfully confusing. Milk is one of the only foods for which “organic” is sometimes not a good answer.

Second, we Americans drink a lot of it, in general. The pediatricians of the country always ask, “How much milk are they drinking per day? Is s/he getting 3 8-oz cups in?”

And finally, some types of milk are illegal (unpasteurized), and that always adds a fun element of mystique to a subject, yes?

Related: Sweetened Condensed Milk

I tried to help you egg labels a few weeks ago as part of the Go Local! Challenge (link no longer available), and I hope some of you have found a local source for well-raised eggs (or appreciated what you already had). Today, the many faces of milk. Here are the terms we’re going to have to shuffle through:

  • Homogenized or umhomogenized?
  • Pasteurized, UHT pasteurized, or Low-temp pasteurized?
  • Raw milk/Fresh milk
  • Whole, Skim, etc.
  • Grassfed milk
  • Organic milk
  • rBST and rBGH free milk

Just to give you an idea of how far we’ve come from the natural world in some of our farming practices, I have to share a story of a trip to a hands-on farm with my kids this spring.

The well-intentioned and generally eco-friendly farmer was explaining why we were about to bottle feed the calves. She told all the children that the cows can’t give any milk to their calves, or there wouldn’t be any for us. (This was after describing the perfect food for the cows, an extruded pellet of corn, soy, silage, and other things coated in leftover fast food grease. A few of us moms were making eyes at each other across the pasture — which was made of sand — and about ready to bolt if the factory farming indoctrination got any worse!)

The reality of “olden days” farming was that the cow produced enough milk for everyone. The farmers used to say that a cow had four teats for a reason: one for the calf, one for the farmer and his family, one for the rest of the farm animals and one for the townspeople. I can’t get over how lovely and pastoral this image is. There is enough for everyone.

But What Kind to Buy?

  • Grassfed Cows are ruminants. Their stomachs are perfectly suited to harness the energy of the sun via grasses and turn it into usable energy. My stomach can’t do that. Can’t even come close. It baffles me a little bit that just because cows can eat corn, and even enjoy it according to some farmers, they’re fed corn constantly. My son can eat ketchup, and he likes ketchup, but if I fed it to him all day, every day, he wouldn’t be balanced or healthy. Same with dogs and chocolate. Just because the cows like something and eat it doesn’t mean it’s good for them.It makes my heart happy to see our farm’s cows out on pasture, looking like animals, acting their species, and living as God created them. It’s clear that they are “naturally raised.” If you’re buying milk at a store, it’s worth a call to the producer to see if the cows are on pasture at all, and if there’s actually grass in their pasture or just dirt. Even partly grassfed is a helpful step, nutrition-wise.Grassfed cattle, and their milk in particular, contains high levels of congugated linoleic acid (CLA), an UNsaturated fat, five times as much as corn/silage fed. CLA has a blue ribbon pinned on for lowering risk of death by heart attack and other heart-healthy statistical things. It helps you lose fat, gain lean muscle and improve your immune system (source).

    This article (link no longer available), published in May of this year, cites more new research on the heart-healthy qualities of grassfed beef. The Harvard researchers had to go to Costa Rica to find enough people eating grassfed beef for their story!

  • rBST and rBGH Both are bovine growth hormones to help the cow get bigger, faster. There is an interesting conversation on that here. This study showed no difference in the “composition of” organic, conventional, and no-rBST milk. In spite of all that, I have an inherent distrust of anything that mimics hormones, no matter how natural.There are a whole lot of synthetic yet “natural” hormones, meaning people produce them in our bodies, clogging up our city water and affecting wildlife and young children.Too much estrogen from treatments and birth control pills has put our ecosystem off balance; what will extra rBST/rBGH do, regardless of whether or not cows make it in their bodies? Luckily many brands listened to the public and are now selling rBST/rBGH free milk, even big store brands like Meijer, Spartan, and Walmart.
  • Organic How do you feel about your milk sitting on a shelf? If you buy organic milk, changes are you could put it in your pantry for a few months. Most organic milk, because it has to travel a distance between the field and your mouth, is “ultra-high temperature” (UHT) pasteurized. That means the food is raised to a very high heat, very quickly. There is nothing left alive, and thus it is shelf stable.It also is said to be worthless to drink, or at best no better than conventional milk, so paying double or triple the cost of milk doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t buy organic milk at the store, unless it’s been low-temp pasteurized. Even then, it’s so expensive that I’d be better off buying another share of raw milk, because there are many more reasons than just “organic” that I choose raw milk from a local farm.
  • Pasteurized, UHT pasteurized, or Low-temp pasteurized? Pasteurizing milk is a process that arose from a genuine need, that of urban cattle growers and unsanitary situations in the early 1900s. For pastured, grassfed, organic cattle whose milk is properly and carefully handled, pasteurization is likely unnecessary.UHT pasteurization is overkill (see above), and low-temp pasteurization is a nice option. Sometimes called “VAT” pasteurized, this milk is heated to the lowest possible temp to still kill bacteria. Some small organic dairies go this route as a great alternative to UHT milk.
  • Raw/Fresh milk Some folks want to avoid pasteurization altogether. Unpasteurized milk is also referred to as raw milk or fresh milk, and there  are various regulations concerning its sale. In some states, you can buy raw milk at a store, in others, you can only buy it for “pet  consumption”, and in some states like mine (Michigan), in order to obtain raw milk, one has to own a cow. Some farmers get around this by selling “cow shares” wherein people can buy a certain share of the cow, then pay for its “boarding” in exchange for a gallon or two of milk per week. This article (Link no longer available) discusses a study in which calves were given raw milk and pasteurized milk, and within months, the calves on pasteurized milk got sick and died. There is clearly a nutritional difference between raw milk (never cooked, straight from the cow) and pasteurized milk. The book I read that really sealed the deal for raw milk in my mind was The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid.
  • Some benefits of raw milk include:
    • Over 60 living enzymes that are beneficial to digestion and immune function
    • Proteins intact
    • Probiotics, aka healthy bacteria, are alive in raw milk, just as in yogurt. Raw milk doesn’t go bad, it just sours and is still safe to drink.
    • Many people have found through experience that raw, unpasteurized milk is more tolerable for people whose digestive system doesn’t handle pasteurized milk well, and other find that it improves allergies and other physical maladies. See some stories here.
    • Vitamin A&D much higher, especially in grassfed cattle in the spring and early summer.
    • See more health benefits of raw milk.

I also decided my family’s story of how we came to drink raw milk ought to be in a separate post. It is milk week, after all! If you’re interested in a list of best to worst milks, here is what milk to use for yogurt and here is a list of compromise vs. ideal foods, including milk. UPDATE: Here is my story.

There are affiliate links in this post. See my full disclosure statement here.

Find more good stuff at Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet, and Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT family.

Unless otherwise credited, photos are owned by the author or used with a license from Canva or Deposit Photos.

17 thoughts on “What Kind of Milk Should I Buy?”

  1. I am on a mission to heal my teeth, my problem is finding raw milk is feeling impossible, I live in Grand Prairie tx it’s a few mins away from Dallas. I have asked around at our local farmers market I was told I had to drive to Oklahoma for raw milk.. Wow! I have searched online at raw milk finder all the listings aren’t real those people don’t sell raw cows milk, some do raw goats milk and raw cheese which is great but I want raw cows milk… I am getting frustrated.. I have been buying organic milk for a few months mostly because I was thinking it was closest to raw I can find but now reading your blog I am scared to even drink it… My husband will not let me not buy milk lol and I enjoy a glass every once in a while… I really wish I could find raw milk local 🙁

    1. Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

      That’s a tough one, Sarah! Maybe you can just use good butter and cheese (online order?). I wouldn’t be afraid to drink milk, but maybe look into the organic brands you have available. If you can find one that’s not UHT, that would be awesome. Good luck! 🙂 Katie

      1. Thanks for our reply, I came a crossed a milk today at a health food store I didn’t pick it up its called kalona super natural milk. It’s from grass fed cows , non homogenized, and the believe low temperature is best so they can sell it in the stores.

        1. Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

          Mmmmm, I’ve had Kalona butter and it’s amazing; I can only imagine their milk is the same. What a wonderful find Sarah!! 🙂 Katie

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  3. I’ve been buying whole milk for my coffee that is HHST (High Heat Shorter Time) pasteurized. According to www.milkfacts.info, in this method milk is heated to 191F for 1 second, which is a higher temperature but much shorter time than the “vat” method and much lower temperature than ultra-pasteurization (or the UHT method). The official idea is to extend the shelf life of the milk, although it still must be kept refrigerated. I would be interested to know how this method compares to the other two in terms of bacteria destroyed vs. enzymes preserved. Do you have any information on this?

    1. Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

      Terry,
      Yikes, your comment got totally misplaced, sorry about that!

      I wish I had data for you, but I can only guess – that it’s better than UHT but perhaps worse than regular pasteurization? Technically, all bacteria and enzymes should be destroyed if it’s deemed “safe to drink” right? I think the real problem with UHT milk is that it denatures proteins perhaps…I see I don’t go into that in this post. Time for an update I guess! Sorry I’m no more help…
      Katie

  4. Hey there, been reading through your blog the past few hours and love it.
    But the milk thing is starting to boggle my mind (and believe me it’s complicated, I’ve been studying it for weeks, been up until 3am watching lectures on youtube over the debate)
    In the UK you can buy raw milk directly from the farmer. Hoever I live in University Dorm’s so this at the moment isnt an option for me.
    I usually drink whole pasteurized/Homogenized/whateverized milk. I’ve been driving my boyfriend barmy t he past few weeks raiding the supermarket shelves reading labels.
    In short, aside from what you’d expect I’ve only been able to find Un-pasteurized but Homogenized milk, or Un-Homogenized but Pasteurized milk. both under the ‘organic’ label.
    Which would be better?

    1. Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

      Jessica,
      Yikes, that is a tough one! Ummm…I guess I’d say either weigh your risk factors from your personal health history (homogenization is linked to heart disease and pasteurization would affect bacterial balance, lactose tolerance, etc.). OR…just go every other? You’re right, it isn’t easy!! Maybe actually I’d try calling the producers and asking questions about grassfed vs. grainfed to see if that could tip the scales. Good luck!
      🙂 Katie

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  6. In case of disease outbreak (Like Madcow disease etc.), how do the people getting raw milk from a cow share get notified ? Or is there a risk that they can feed on that milk and potentially get the disease the cow had ?

    1. Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

      Taruan,
      Certainly there’s a risk, but in this age, most raw milk farms have email lists and would quickly notify customers. Mad cow would be unlikely in a grassfed herd anyway though, although Listeria and e.coli are a risk.

      This is my friend’s story of getting sick from raw milk: http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2012/02/sick-from-raw-milk.html

      Eating is a risk, I guess I feel…

      🙂 Katie

  7. We were die-hard raw milk drinkers until we had close friends of ours almost lose their children to kidney failure from E. Coli very recently. The farm was awesome, clean and they did everything right. Very devastating. Long story short, children are much more at risk than an adult with a fully mature immune system. So my husband and I continue to drink it but we buy Low Temperature Pasteurization for our children. We already do so many other great things such as free-range our eggs, eat grass-fed beef and pork and lamb. There’s really no reason to push raw milk on our children when water is just as good.

    We know the risks are low and our children probably would have been fine if we continued but we decided to go with even lower risk choices. We are no longer living in an era where food is scarce and our choices our limited. My ancestors owned dairy cows but they also had very limited food choices at times and the benefits outweighed the risks at those times.

    1. Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

      Gah, scary…you make excellent points – and it makes me nervous! Here our low-temp past milk is 1.5 times as expensive as my raw milk, which seems crazy – spend more for milk that somebody cooked vs. milk w/ enzymes, etc.

      Hmmmm…
      Thanks for contributing – Katie

      1. Yes, it was tough but we chose a farm that grass-feeds their dairy cows and guarantees the positive benefits in spite of low temp past. And it is non-homogenized. It is actually more work for me to get this as I have to drive one hour each way to buy it over state lines and pack it home on ice. They use glass jugs which is pretty awesome. We use Gary’s Lady Lane Milk and it has been wonderful and tastes the same as our raw milk. It costs twice as much as when we buy raw for my husband and I. But I just feel it is worth it to keep our kids safe. I found out recently that my own ancestors also sometimes pasteurized their own milk at times and I am not sure why except they often did it for babies that needed to be bottle fed and they usually used goat’s milk. It is possible they were also aware of the risk for young children. It is something that has been done for a long time and not anything new. I wish I knew how they did it. High temp? Low temp?

        The things we do for our kids……

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