Do you know that children under the age of 5 are not allowed to consume raw milk? It’s not easy with milk. Although parents certainly try to protect their children and wish them only the best, in the case of raw milk it can be a big and painful mistake.
Milk is not a problem-free food
In connection with raw milk, you may immediately think of the derogatory term organic mother. But we don’t have to be too harsh. Everyone would like to eat and drink better. It is certain that people who care a lot about the origin of food and the way it is processed try to find a more suitable choice not only for themselves but also for their families. However, not everyone realizes that consuming milk is a bit more complicated than it might seem.
Being lactose intolerant or having a direct allergy to casein or whey protein is nothing new or fashionable. Humanity has been suffering from these difficulties for roughly ten thousand years, i.e. since the time when we started to domesticate wild animals and milk became a more affordable food. While people got their hands on meat through hunting, milk was only available after domestication.
However, the human body was not prepared for the consumption of milk. Even five thousand years ago, most adults still suffered from abdominal pain and cramps or diarrhea after consuming milk. On the other hand, after birth, children have a higher level of the enzyme needed to digest milk, which is why milk was naturally more digestible for children.
Milk causes problems for both adults and children
However, nature has still not been washed away by the human species and it has not sufficiently armored itself genetically. Today, some form of lactose intolerance is more common in Asians, Hispanics or Africans. For some of these groups, even 95% applies. Globally, at least 65% of the population has some form of intolerance, while here only about 15 to 20% of Czechs do.
In the case of processed milk, hormones or antibiotics can also lurk in this now industrially produced product. So the consumption of milk definitely has many pitfalls. It would seem that raw milk can be a good choice especially for children. However, it can be harmful to health and is also more difficult to digest.
Risks of raw unpasteurized milk
Cow’s milk can be full of disease-causing bacteria, which children will consume due to further non-processing with milk. Their immune system is not yet sufficiently developed, and therefore there is a significantly higher risk of contracting salmonella, listeriosis or other pathogens that may be in unprocessed milk. Even adults can get sick from these diseases, but their bodies are better able to fight bacteria.
Pasteurization, or boiling, is the easiest method to make raw milk not only safe, but also more digestible. The same applies to other unpasteurized dairy products, for example cheese or yogurt.
It is not for nothing that the raw milks sold here are always equipped with instructions about possible health risks. It must be stated on them that the product has not been pasteurized and ideally there should also be a warning and that the product is not suitable for children under 5 years of age, pregnant women or people with reduced immunity.
Even 71 people from the South Bohemian Region were not aware of this. These people fell ill with campylobacteriosis in 2010 after consuming unpasteurized milk from a vending machine. In Germany, a child was hospitalized in 2024 after consuming milk containing E. coli and Listeria bacteria. In the American California, even 171 people faced health problems in 2023 and 2024. And all you have to do is boil the milk.
Sources: openaccessgovernment.org, , santepubliquefrance.fr, mzd.gov.cz
