The truth about processed milk powder and how it harms health even when it comes from grassfed animals and is organically produced.
Milk…it does a body good. Or does it? Or did we do something bad to it?
Dairy in the modern world has come a long way from just the cow. Pasteurization, homogenization, and dozens of 5+ syllable words are needed to even begin to capture the industrial processing that dairy now undergoes today.
You wouldn’t think that a food that is 85-95% water would be a good candidate for turning into a dry powder.
But Big Food thought otherwise. So along with all the other processed and pseudo dairy products that line our stores and shelves, we have powdered milk.
And wow, it is added to A LOT of foods both organic and conventional. From baby formula to milk chocolate and everything in between, milk powder is a very important ingredient to the industrialized food system.
But why do this to dairy? How do food companies make this stuff? And what does it do to us?
Does organic powdered milk pass as safe food for us to consume?
The History of Powdered Milk
In a similar fashion to modern rice syrup, it seems a few traditional people groups consumed something similar to milk powder. During Marco Polo’s explorations, he came across Mongolian Tartar troops:
They also have milk dried into a kind of paste to carry with them; and when they need food they put this in water, and beat it up till it dissolves, and then drink it. [It is prepared in this way; they boil the milk, and when the rich part floats on the top they skim it into another vessel, and of that they make butter; for the milk will not become solid till this is removed. Then they put the milk in the sun to dry. And when they go on an expedition, every man takes some ten pounds of this dried milk with him. And of a morning he will take a half pound of it and put it in his leather bottle, with as much water as he pleases. So, as he rides along, the milk-paste and the water in the bottle get well churned together into a kind of pap, and that makes his dinner. (1)
Modern Milk Powder
Powdered milk has come a long way since the Mongol days. Modern milk powder is made from nonfat skimmed milk, whole milk, buttermilk, or whey.
One of three methods is employed, with spray drying the most common.
Spray Drying
The raw dairy is first pasteurized and then concentrated in an evaporator to approximately 50% milk solids.
The concentrated milk is subsequently sprayed into a heated chamber. The heat causes the water in the milk to evaporate almost instantly. What’s left are fine particles of powdered milk solids.
Drum Drying
Another method of making milk powder is drum drying. The pasteurized milk is applied as a thin film to the surface of a heated drum. The water evaporates and the dried milk solids are scraped off.
You have to wonder what those drums are made of … hopefully, not aluminum or a toxic material like the Teflon-coated dies that shape cheap pasta.
The problem with this method is that the powdered milk tends to have a cooked flavor. This is the result of caramelization from the direct contact of the milk solids with the heated drum.
Freeze Drying
A third method that preserves the nutrients in the milk much better than spray or drum drying is freeze-drying. However, freeze-dried milk powder still comes from pasteurized milk.
Modern Milk Powder Processing
First, note that the process of making powdered milk starts with pasteurization.
If milk was ultra-pasteurized, that would be even worse! Thus, by the time it is finally reconstituted, the milk has generally been cooked twice! This overprocessing significantly damages nutrients and denatures the protein too.
Even milk powders made through the superior process of freeze-drying will have been made from pasteurized dairy.
Also, the storage of powdered milk can lead to further nutrient losses. Both light and warmth can cause a reduction of vitamin A and E levels.
In all cases steeper decline of both vitamins in first 14 days of storage was identified. The highest losses of vitamin A and E in powdered milk occurred during storage in the light at room temperature. The value decreased by 91 resp. 95% of the original value. (2)
Another problem is that the quality of the protein, depending on the way the original milk was processed and other factors, may decrease substantially between manufacturing and consumption. (3)
This is similar to the degradation that occurs in protein powder processing even if low temp.
Unhealthy Animals, Improper Feed
Powdered milk, like most milk products in America, comes from confinement-raised animals.
These animals are given substantial amounts of antibiotics (around 80% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to animals!). (4)
Instead of foraging on pasture, they are force-fed large amounts of genetically modified grain. Their natural life span of ten to fifteen years is reduced to as little as three to five.
Even if the final product isn’t any more dangerous or damaging than the original, the clear research and studies on all the dangerous and deleterious impacts of conventional dairy mean almost all powdered milk is unhealthy.
However, some studies do shed light on additional issues with powdered milk.
Oxidized Cholesterol
Studies of milk powder show that the manufacturing process leads to oxidized cholesterol, called oxysterols.
This is the dangerous cholesterol – the kind to avoid as opposed to the natural cholesterol in egg yolks, butter, and other foods which is beneficial.
“The levels of the different oxysterols are discussed attending to the type of milk. UHT and skimmed powder milks provide the highest concentration of oxysterols. Particularly, high concentrations were found for 7β-hydroxy-cholesterol (up to 205.6 ng/mL), 5-cholesten-3β-ol-7-one (up to 21.8 ng/mL), cholesterol 5α,6α-epoxide (up to 14.9 ng/mL), and 25-hydroxycholesterol (up to 5.1 ng/mL). An increase in cholesten-3β-ol-7-one and cholesterol 5α,6α-epoxide, resulting from the skimming process, was also observed. (5)
The amount of oxidized cholesterol in milk powders is substantial, as much as 30mg/g, or 3% of the total.
Why should we care about oxidized cholesterol?
Health pioneer Dr. Fred Kummerow MD, the doctor who succeeded in getting the FDA to “ban” trans fat and who was one of the earliest whistleblowers about fat and cholesterol, puts it simply:
Cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease, except if it’s oxidized… You can have fine levels of LDL and still be in trouble if a lot of that LDL is oxidized. (6)
Unlabeled Additives
One of the biggest problems with milk powder is that when the label of a food says “powdered milk”, that isn’t all you’re getting. Many unlisted additives come along with it.
This is possible because the FDA doesn’t consider these additives to be true “ingredients”. Hence, they remain hidden, completely unlabeled on products containing powdered milk. Here are the most common ones:
calcium chloride, citric acid and sodium citrate, sodium salts of orthophosphoric acid and polyphosphoric acid by not exceeding 0.3% by weight, Butylated Hydroxy anisole is also permitted [in milk powders] to an extent of 0.01% by weight of the product. (7, 8)
Organic Milk Powder?
While organic powdered milk is much safer than conventional because the toxins, GMOs, and antibiotics at the agricultural level are not used, it is best to still avoid it as much as possible.
The reason is that the processing of milk into dry milk powder denatures the fragile milk proteins.
This results in exposure to a highly allergenic food for those who consume it which has the potential to trigger autoimmune symptoms.
In addition, the huge problem of oxidized cholesterol still exists with organic powdered milk. Hence, just say no to powdered milk and the foods that contain it, especially for children!
They need natural cholesterol for their developing brains and bodies, not the oxidized version of this extremely important nutrient!
Milk Powder in Homemade Baby Formulas
Avoidance is of particular importance for babies, where some parents are using organic goat milk powder to make homemade baby formula.
Just say no!
If you can’t get raw milk, use VAT pasteurized yogurt or kefir cultured for 24 hours instead, NOT milk powder!
Safe Alternatives
Some people like to store milk powders to use as food in the event of an emergency situation. Instead of dairy milk powder, a better alternative is coconut milk powder (this quality brand is organic and has no additives).
Coconut milk has no cholesterol and very little protein. Hence, the serious issues of allergenic, denatured proteins and oxidized cholesterol when it is powdered are significantly reduced or eliminated.
(1) The Mongol Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia
(2) Stability of Vitamin A and E in powdered cow’s milk in relation to different storage methods
(3) Changes in protein nutritional quality in fresh and recombined ultra-high temperature treated milk during storage
(4) The FDA Says Farmers Are Giving Animals Too Many Antibiotics
(5) Cholesterol oxidation products in milk: Processing formation and determination
(6) A Lifelong Fight Against Trans Fats
(7) What are the differences between powdered milk and fresh milk?
(8) Milk and Milk Products
Do you think it would work to add coconut milk powder to raw milk to help thicken the yogurt I make? Recipe currently calls for organic milk powder to be added to the raw milk (and heated to 110 to kill the bacteria in the raw milk that would effect it culturing).
I don’t know if this would work, but my hunch is that it would not have much effect. My suggestion would be to use gelatin. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/plant-based-yogurt-thickeners/
I understand that processors freeze dry milk that has been pasteurized. But could the family with a home freeze dryer dry their own unpasteurized raw milk without the mentioned problems?
Unfortunately, no. Freeze drying milk destroys the integrity of the protein molecules.
I own a freeze dryer. I have access to farm fresh raw milk. I do want some powdered whole milk for storage. Like I do with probiotic fermented things, I will process the raw milk at a low temp of 90 degrees in the freeze dryer, to preserve it’s nutrients. Yogurt and Kefir can be made from those freeze dried products. My garden grown fermented sauerkraut tastes awesome and fresh. I normally air dry my sourdough starter, but I freeze dry slices of my sourdough bread.
Freeze drying does harm the integrity of the protein molecules in the milk. However, if you are using it only for emergencies and not as a regular source of calories, that should be ok. However, I think coconut milk powder is better for this case, as coconut milk powder has little to no protein (mostly fat and some carbs), and so does not get denatured by powdering.
This all makes sense and the reasons for avoiding commercial powdered dairy are clear. But what about if one has a home freeze dryer and freeze-dries their own powdered milk. Will it suffer from the same problems as commercial freeze dried milk?
Yes, home freezing drying of milk has the same issues. The protein molecules are denatured.
I am 73 and I am allergic to the fat in milk although I can drink skim milk without a problem. As a result my bone density is quite good for my age. What am I to do?