With a mild milk allergy I regret to tell you that I do not drink milk very often, however I do have dear friends and family members who do and cook with it myself. Upon examining the particular brand of organic milk that I buy along with the dairy alternative beverages that I drink I was able to determine what nutrients the milk was giving me in comparison to the dairy alternative beverages. After sharing this information, someone mentioned the idea of comparing homogenized milk and raw milk. I decided that a comparison of homogenized and pasteurized milk would be interesting and started to look into it. This is what I discovered.
There are two terms to discuss here, pasteurization and homogenization.
Pasteurization is a process in which milk is heated up to high temperatures for a short period. The milk I am currently buying is heated up to 162 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 seconds. Milk companies will insist that pasteurization is necessary to make milk bacteriologically safe, while consumers of raw milk argue that because of pasteurization the natural bacteria found in milk still exist, only it is dead. Another argument that they have is that after the natural bacteria is killed they rupture and release histamines. Those that suffer allergic reactions to milk usually do not have their allergies when they consume raw milk, because the natural bacteria was not killed and the histamines were not released. Milk that goes through a pasteurization process is labeled, raw milk is not pasteurized. Homogenization is the process that breaks up and disperses the milkfat throughout the milk, by destroying the natural butter fat cells. These natural butter fat cells are found in raw milk. Some argue that the process which involves putting the milk under extreme pressure is dangerous, and it is not a required step and deceives consumers of how much cream is actually in the the milk that they are drinking.
Now with the understanding of what pasteurization is and what homogenization is here are how the milks compare.
Regular Pasteurized and Homogenized Whole Milk
Calories ————————– 150
Calories from Fat —————- 70
Daily Value Percentage for a 2000 Calorie Diet
Total Fat 8g ———————— 12%
Saturated Fat 5g —————— 25%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 35mg —————- 12%
Sodium 125mg ——————— 5%
Total Carbohydrate 12g ———- 4%
Dietary Fiber 0g ——————— 0%
Sugars 12g
Protein 8g
Vitamin A —————————— 6%
Vitamin C —————————– 2%
Calcium —————————– 30%
Iron ————————————- 0%
Vitamin D ————————— 25%
Phosphorus ———————– 25%
Raw Milk
Calories ————————– 160
Calories from Fat —————- 80
Daily Value Percentage for a 2000 Calorie Diet
Total Fat 9g ———————— 14%
Saturated Fat 6g —————— 30%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 35mg —————- 12%
Sodium 120mg ——————— 5%
Total Carbohydrate 12g ———- 4%
Dietary Fiber 0g ——————— 0%
Sugars 12g
Protein 9g
Vitamin A —————————— 6%
Vitamin C —————————– 0%
Calcium —————————– 30%
Iron ————————————- 0%
Raw milk has 10 more calories, only 10 more calories from fat, 1 more gram of total fat, 1 more gram of saturated fat and 1 more gram of protein, but the same of amount of trans fat., cholesterol, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber and sugars as the regular pasteurized and homogenized whole milk. Both milks have the same amount of Vitamin A, Calcium and Iron. Raw milk has only 5mg less sodium and regular milk has 2% of the daily need of Vitamin C, while raw milk has 0%. The particular label that I examined of raw milk did not mention Vitamin D or Phosphorus, so I am unaware of how much it offered, however the label I examined of the regular milk stated that it had one fourth of what you needed daily of both Vitamin D and Phosphorus.
In terms of nutrients that they offer they are very close however the real reason that people will decide to purchase one or the other will be determined with how they feel about homogenization and pasteurization. After looking into this I know that I have something to think about in terms of what milk I will decide to purchase, I can’t help but wonder if I drank raw milk if I would have the same allergic reaction.
