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What if you were told of a simple way to reduce your child’s chances of developing asthma and even allergies by almost half.
Wouldn’t you sit up and take notice?
Wouldn’t you listen very carefully and fall all over yourself to implement that strategy immediately?
Asthma, after all, is a life threatening disease. It is not just a minor inconvenience to everyday life.
An inhaler in your pocket is not comparable in any way to carrying around a pair of reading glasses.
Asthma affects a child’s ability to fully participate in life and may even threaten his/her life if an attack occurs in a place where medical help is not readily and immediately available.
The numbers of children suffering from asthma are staggering. Over 10 million children in the United States alone suffer from this life threatening illness. Any parent would be nuts unwise not to implement such a simple strategy if it could indeed reduce the odds of developing asthma by almost half.
So what is this simple strategy for reducing your child’s asthma risk?
A drug? A vitamin? A supplement or special nutrient of some kind?
None of the above.
Before reading on … remember that just because answers sometimes come in a brown paper bag doesn’t make them any less important or worthy of our rapt attention.
Children That Drink Raw Milk Have 41% Less Asthma
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology reported on August 29, 2011 that children who drank raw milk had a 41% reduced chance of developing asthma. These same children had a nearly 50% reduction in hay fever as well even when other relevant factors were considered.
The large European study reported by Reuters Health earlier this month included survey results where parents answered detailed questions about their children’s milk consumption. 800 milk samples were collected from the households of those participating in the study.
Researchers linked the protective effects of raw milk to the fragile whey proteins BSA and alpha-lactalbumin which are destroyed by pasteurization.
It is important to note that children who drank raw milk that was boiled before drinking had no less asthma than those children drinking pasteurized milk.
Only completely unheated raw milk from farm to glass provided the protective effects against asthma and allergies.
What if You Are Afraid to Give Your Child Raw Milk?Â
Here’s the bottom line if you find yourself afraid of raw milk due to the tedious and misguided government warnings about this healthy whole food.
There is no record of raw milk ever killing a single child per review of the available literature over the past 12 years.
Did you get that?
Zero deaths.
Nada.
Nil.
Asthma, on the other hand, kills thousands of people each and every year and causes millions of annual visits to hospital emergency rooms.
What seems to be the common sense, obvious decision to you? Most people don’t trust the government about much of anything anyway (and with good reason), so why wouldn’t they be skeptical of government warnings about raw milk too?
As it turns out, more and more people really are ignoring government warnings about raw milk given that raw milk consumption increased by 25% in California alone in 2010 while pasteurized milk consumption shrank by 3%.
Thinking for oneself is truly a beautiful thing.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
Source: The Protective Effect of Farm Milk on Childhood Asthma and Atopy, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Joel Sims (@joelmichaelsims) (@joelmichaelsims)
Don’t want your kid to have asthma or hay fever? Give them raw cow’s milk. Asthma kills 1000s, raw milk kills 0 – http://t.co/apIP9Ds6 #fb
Joe Gray (@jogems66says)
Reduce your child’s asthma risk by 41% by drinking raw milk. http://t.co/B92FIbJq
Sara
My son has never had pasturized milk and still has asthma, but unfortunatly I did drink it when I was PG, hadn’t found a source for raw yet. But I do think I have at least almost cured his asthma with a vitamin D supplement. He wont take FCLO (he is 2) and immediately spits it out when I give it to him 🙂 but a supplement works for now. He needs between 2000 and 4000 IU’s a day for it to be effective though, depending on the season. I’m not sure why he needs so much but I’m very glad its working!!
Megan @ Purple Dancing Dahlias
you can rub the FCLO on his bottom and he will absorb it through his skin.
Sara
Lots of people have told me that 🙂 The only reason I havent tried it is because I dont want him to smell fishy all day LOL… plus in order to get 4000 IU’s a day in him that would be a LOT of FCLO…
D.
Maybe if your son was drinking raw milk (you said you have no current access though, huh?) he wouldn’t have the symptoms of asthma? This article is mostly talking about how USING raw milk will help asthma. After all, raw milk contains Vitamin D, K, E, A and a whole bunch of other good stuff, too.
Have you been to the Weston A. Price web site (the milk one – can’t think of it right now) to see if you would have access to raw milk anywhere near you or maybe from a neighboring state? Might give that a try.
Sara
He does drink raw milk now! Should have been more clear in my post, I hadnt found a source when I was PG but by the time he was a yr old, which is when he started drinking milk, we half found a source! Yay!
Terri
Hi Sarah, My question has nothing to do with raw milk….we love raw milk. I asked you about corn last week and I have one more question. I make lime water to soak my corn meal in and then cook it. Can I reuse the lime by adding more water to it? Lime is a little expensive for us and if I have to throw it out after each time of use, I could go through it quickly.
Thank you for all the great information each day.
Terri
Judy Lumbardy Keller via Facebook
Can you imagine this and then cleaning the poisons out of the home with safe non-toxic cleaning agents? Our kids might stand a chance!
Raquel
My problem is not mucous but my 2 yr old daughter did get a runny nose and cough about 2-3 days after having raw milk kefir. My issue is that I get huge pimples about 5 days after having dairy products. I also had the raw milk kefir (this is the first time our family has tried raw milk except for my husband who grew up on it in Ukraine). I got a couple itchy bumps on my face which I assume was from the kefir. Maybe I need to do GAPS to cure my dairy allergies?
D.
Maybe what happens to you and your daughter are a form of detox from the healthy raw milk you’re consuming. Might try giving the milk a few more days to see if things get worse or clear up. I don’t doubt that some people will have trouble with milk of any kind, but raw seems to be the least offensive.
Or you could try raw goat milk. That might be a different experience for you and your body, entirely. If you have access to it, this might be a good option for your family to try.
Raquel
I hope you are right 🙂 I would love to be albe to have raw milk. The weird thing is I didn’t develop my allergy until around 13 yrs old, before that I had pasturized dairy all the time with no problems.
Cindy (Clee)
Raquel, definitely try the raw goat’s milk! It’s actually considered the universal milk because it’s so well-tolerated by so many mammals. We first came across it when we were breeding Golden Retrievers. We used it for weaning. In the course of educating ourselves, we learned how many who have colicky babies have switched to it (supplementing B Vitamins), and the colic vanished. Later, when one of our grandchildren went through every milk and formula without success, we suggested goat milk to our daughter. Even though at the time, we weren’t aware of traditional foods and all that encompasses, this change turned out to be the answer our grandchild needed. She went from ‘failing to thrive’ to robust, energetic and full of life. You want FULL fat, by the way. Don’t skimp on that. The fat helps your body assimilate all the ‘good stuff’ in the milk…and it makes it taste so much better, too! We didn’t use raw at the time, but shortly after making the switch to raw cow milk, our farmer announced that he’d be selling goat milk, too. We jumped on it and now get half a gal of that each week in addition to our usual cow milk, just because we love the taste of it so much.
Lindsey
I have actually taken a small bottle of my raw milk into a restaurant before! I know it’s not healthy at all, but I like to have a Colorado Bulldog occasionally. I take my raw milk with me so that I’m getting at least something healthy out of my adult beverage. It makes the drink taste SO MUCH BETTER. I have gotten some funny looks, but I enjoy it because usually people ask questions; and that prompts a discussion about why raw milk is so much better for us and better tasting.
When we have friends over for supper, I always let them taste our milk. I’ve never had one who didn’t admit that it was better than their “regular” milk. Everyone also loves my lacto-fermented veggies and wants to know how to make them. I tell them they have to have raw milk so that they can have the whey for fermenting. We’re the weird ones in our circle of friends, but we love being different!
Amy Love @ Real Food Whole Health
I LOVE this! Lindsey, keep spreading the word! I take my own salt and sometimes olive oil with me to restaurants, but I never thought about the milk- what a great convo starter 🙂
jason and lisa
same here lindsey!!! my wife and i have noticed that we are everyone elses “plan b”.. we cook every meal at home and people just dont want to hang out in our kitchen.. funny though, when people do come over, they always want to eat our food!!
-jason and lisa-
Karen Elpant
If the child has developed asthma already will drinking raw milk help them get rid of it?
What about an adult? My hubby has had asthma since very young childhood and he is now in his 40s… Will drinking raw milk help him? And another question… Will just drinking raw milk alone help or are there other protocols involved to help get rid of asthma?
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
YES YES YES. I have a friend with 5 asthmatic children who stay in remission as long as they are drinking plenty of raw milk.
Kirsten Davies (@thefoodremedy)
Reduce Your Child’s Asthma Risk by 41% – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/BqMw8PoP
Sue
Does this apply only to grass-fed raw milk? Right now, grass is scarce here in Texas and our farm is supplementing with grain feed (milo). Is that ok?
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
The study did not specify as far as I can tell between grassfed and cows fed grain.
Rosana
I’m in Texas as well and I can’t say I noticed a difference in the milk I purchase from Stryks. My allergies are still in check.
And the beauty of it is, since I grew up “lactose intolerant” I never drank much milk usually just some in my tea in the morning and that still is my practice, I just don’t think of drinking milk much, and I don’t have allergy problems. It’s probably just a tablespoon worth in my tea. My son and daughter who refuse to drink raw milk deal with major allergy issues, in th espring and fall.