Before the ubiquitous “got milk” complete with milk mustache campaign of the 1990s, there was the “Milk Does a Body Good” campaign of the 1980s. Both of these were to promote milk as a healthy drink that builds strong bones.

Don’t get me wrong, milk does have a lot going for it. It has protein, vitamins, and other nutrients that your body and your bones need to be strong and withstand life. The habits that promote bone density will have a pay off well into middle age and older adulthood.

Kind of like blood sugar, it is the cumulative high blood sugar that does the damage, it is the cumulative wear and tear and not giving the osteoclasts enough raw material to work with that can lead to troubles down the road.

Believe me, I’ve been in enough broken bone surgeries to identify, at a glance, who does not keep up with their diet and exercise.

Exercise also stresses bones, which makes them stronger.

It is the entire package. And is an investment in your future bone health.

I am, of course, speaking to the benefits of pasteurized milk. Never raw milk.

Pasteurized milk is milk that has been exposed to temperature and time. The milk is heated up to ensure that the bacteria and viruses are killed, for long enough. This has the added benefit of preventing spoilage because the same bacteria and viruses are what causes spoiled milk. Some of you have never gotten the milk out of the fridge and poured yourself a glass of spoiled milk that you promptly spat out in the sink and it shows.

The process was developed by Louis Pasteur who was a 19th French chemist and microbiologist. His pasteurization process (spot the name similarity) made milk safe to drink. It also made beer and wine safe to drink. In short, he saved France. Or the industries that made France famous.

Just think of how many lives he has saved.

In this current day, it is the fashion to ignore medical advice. Shocking!

[insert extreme eye roll here]

The ingestion of raw milk for its nonexistent “powers” has been gaining in popularity.

To be clear, raw milk can be sold to feed livestock.

But *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* people have been lying to get their hands on the white stuff. And all the bacteria and viruses it contains.

Why?

Because they’ve been lied to and told it was the healthier way.

To be clear, pasteurization does nothing to the nutritional value of milk. Raw milk has been linked to miscarriage, stillbirths, kidney failure and death since 1987. Definitely before that as well.

Someone is making money off the sale of raw milk and telling gullible people that it is the healthier way. Consider who profits from the sale of raw milk.

That is a round about way of informing you that there is a current raw milk crisis in Florida. At least 21 people, including 6 children, people have been sickened from ingesting raw milk. Probably because of contamination at the farm. Raw milk has to be handled in an extremely professional manner, as does the farm that it is from.

Those who drink raw milk are you sure you know all of the inherent dangers? Were you told?

Those who have been sickened, often to the point of hospitalization, was raw milk worth it? Just so you could stick it to “Big Dairy”?