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Only 7% of children who drink grassfed raw milk have allergies versus 44% of those who don’t consume this healthful traditional food. The asthma rate is lower and overall immunity higher for raw milk drinking kids too.
The Hygiene Hypothesis states that when children lack early exposure to infectious agents, parasites, and symbiotic microorganisms like normal gut flora such as would naturally occur in a rural or farm environment, they are much more likely to suffer from autoimmune disorders such as allergies or asthma.
This hypothesis helps to explain why farm kids tend to be so much healthier and far less prone to immune disorders than children raised in an urban setting.
Now, an international team of researchers has taken the Hygiene Hypothesis a step further by looking at how one raw milk protects against allergies in children. This is but one of the health benefits of raw milk, particularly from grassfed cows.
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology is reporting that farm children who drink raw milk exhibit a far superior immune response than either farm children who don’t consume raw milk or children living in an urban setting.
Raw Milk Protective Against Allergies
The team of researchers led by Dr. Mark Holbreich MD, an allergy and asthma specialist, compared skin prick tests of mostly raw milk drinking Amish children aged 6-12 years old living in Indiana to non-raw milk drinking Swiss children living in either a farm or urban setting. Amish children in Indiana were chosen due to their genetic similarity to modern-day Swiss children.
The results of the skin prick tests to assess allergic sensitization are summarized as follows:
- Over 44% of the urban living Swiss children exhibited an allergic reaction.
- Approximately 25% of the non-raw milk drinking Swiss farm children had an allergic reaction.
- Only 7% of primarily raw milk drinking Amish children had an allergic reaction.
Reduced Asthma Risk
This study reinforces the results of the 2011 Gabriella study which found lower asthma rates as well.
Exposure to farm milk in early life and consumption of raw farm milk have been associated with a reduced asthma and atopy risk, and it has been suggested that this protection might be mediated through receptors of the innate immune system.
Stronger Immunity Overall
While the results of this large survey combined with allergy testing are very promising with raw milk potentially a very easy way for parents to safely increase the odds that their children avoid the lifelong burden of allergies and/or asthma, further research is warranted.  Dr. Holbreich’s team noted that some of the superior immune response of the raw milk drinking children may be due to the very large Amish families which may provide additional protective factors.
Should parents eager to provide their children with maximum lifelong vibrant health wait for these studies to occur?
While some parents may wish to remain cautious, more forward-thinking parents wishing to provide their children with a health edge today will no doubt seek to source grassfed raw milk immediately based on this information. Â As wisely noted by Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue in her book Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox:
We can’t always wait for science to identify the nutrients and test for them before we go ahead and benefit from them.
References
(1) The protective effect of farm milk consumption on childhood asthma and atopy
(2) Study of Amish children proves raw milk promotes health, boosts immunity
HELP!
I am having a weird issue with my raw milk.
I am new to this and maybe this is normal, or not…
I live in a state where raw milk is actually illegal. A friend (previous owner of a dairy) has a young guernsey and we own a share of her and are able to receive the by products she produces. This winter she was fed a blend of hays and grasses to supplement her diet until she was moved and fully pastured. The move happened 2 weeks ago.
Here is my issue. Her milk has always been so fresh and delicious. Lots of cream that shook right into the milk and was so tasty. It stayed fresh tasting for 7-12 days. The last gallon I had came in 2 1/2 gallon mason jars that I wash and sanitize myself, as we have always done. The first jar was a bit earthy, which I expected with the move to grass. A friend tried a glass that was on the bottom of the first jar and said it tasted fishy. I didnt notice the taste until tonight when i opened the second jar. The second jar was from the same milking and was opened 3 days after the first. When I shake the jar the cream doesn’t mix completely, there are always some chunks that float on the top and stick to the inside of the jar. I warmed some up for my daughter’s cocoa and there was a film of yellow oil on top that definitely smelled fishy.
I have contacted the owner but her husband, the expert, is out of town. Is this something anyone else has experienced as the diet of the cow changes? Or does this seem like a problem?
Any information would be appreciated.
It sounds like the second jar of milk might have frozen. That wouldn’t explain the fishy smell/taste, but would explain the cream not mixing well with milk and clumping. And it would explain the melting of the cream when you warmed it. I hope by now the problem has been solved so that you can enjoy the milk again!!
I drink raw milk, so I’m on board with the project, but this blog post’s summary of the study is inaccurate and misleading. The JACI study did not make any claims about children who live on farms and who drink pasteurized milk. Almost all of the Swiss children (87%) living on farms drank milk directly from the farm. This percentage was actually higher than that of the Amish kids who drank farm milk (79%). So there was no way to compare raw-milk-drinking farm kids with farm kids who don’t drink raw milk. The summary in this blog post is inaccurate:
“The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology is reporting that farm children who drink raw milk exhibit a far superior immune response than either farm children who don’t consume raw milk or children living in an urban setting.
The team of researchers led by Dr. Mark Holbreich MD, an allergy and asthma specialist, compared skin prick tests of mostly raw milk drinking Amish children aged 6-12 years old living in Indiana to non raw milk drinking Swiss children living in either a farm or urban setting.”
This is not the case: the study made no claims about farm children who don’t drink farm milk. It simply found that both children raised on farms had fewer allergies and less asthma, and that most of these children also drank raw milk. The Swiss farm children’s slightly greater propensity to allergies, when compared to Amish farm children, cannot be explained by milk consumption. The post should be corrected!
My (8yr old) daughter loves corn flour tortillas for tacos at home. We have been eating grass-fed beef and dairy for about almost a month, happily. Yesterday we had farm-raised chicken tacos (get the chicken from the same grass-fed cow farm) w/ store bought corn flour tortillas. She woke up at 5am with a horrible stomach ache stating “mommy my stomach is squeezing.” I kept her home and made her ginger tea with some raw honey. She is running a moderate fever so I know something is wrong and she’s been in bed all day with an off/on again headache. Does anyone have any tried and true recommendations or wisdom on this? I also gave her some grass-fed beef broth I made at home.
Many thanks.
My daughter developed allergies to several things including milk while on raw milk. I don’t blame the raw milk for being raw but I question what exactly the cows are fed. As a baby she was sensitive to milk (diarrhea, eczema), I had to switch to goat milk just to nurse. She seemed to grow out of it and it would only occasionally occur and we switched to raw milk. Problem went away. However after maybe 3-4 years she became allergic to milk, beef, eggs, yeast, soy, wheat, among others (she gets big hives). We live in AZ and the raw dairy here does not pasture their cows (no pasture just desert). Their alfalfa is supplied to them by someone else and I believe they also give them oats and other feed to supplement. They also started giving the cows enzymes. (my husband claimed it started tasting different) We switched to raw goat — same thing, but not quite as severe. Now I truly believe it’s due to the gm soy and /or wheat they put in most animal feed. Soy was in the goat feed. It’s next to impossible to find it without. We have chickens and she can’t do our eggs because of the feed. We found soy free feed and she could eat the eggs (she can also eat emu and ostrich eggs), but the feed was mash not pelletized and the chickens didn’t like to eat it and weren’t laying as much. She can eat sheep milk yogurt with no problem, but it’s impossible to find raw sheep milk that we can drink and make our own stuff from.
What is up with Hawaii?? You would think it would be easy and amazing to get a2 grass fed organic milk… Uh no… Impossible .. Booooooo!!!