Organic Milk Much Worse For Health Than Regular Milk

Most people accept that organic food is better for health than nonorganic food. At the very least it is not thought that organic food is worse for health. Milk though is a different matter entirely. Dramatic new research is emerging clearly showing that organic milk is significantly worse for health than regular pasteurized milk. The evidence for this is revealed for the first time in a new book 'Organic Milk Myth'.

This may come as a shock to many people and families who pay extra money for organic milk in the belief that it is better than regular milk. Sometimes the extra cost of organic milk can be nearly double the price of regular milk.

How, you may ask, is it possible that organic milk sold widely in stores everywhere can actually be worse for health than regular pasteurized milk? Some may think that organic milk is probably not much better than regular milk. But to think that organic milk is actually much worse for health than regular milk is quite a different thing.

Yet all the latest evidence is showing precisely this. Furthermore, UHT milk (Long Life milk) is shown to be even worse for health than organic milk. Astoundingly, about 80% of organic milk sold in the world today is UHT milk.

It is hardly surprising that most organic milk is UHT when you consider that in many countries nearly all milk sold is UHT. For example in Belgium, Spain, Brazil, and France over 95% of total milk consumed is UHT. Throughout the world UHT sales are fast catching up or overtaking non-UHT sales. This is welcomed by milk producers because UHT has a much longer shelf life, making the supply chain to the consumer an easier task as no refrigeration is required. Governments worldwide are also encouraging the production of UHT milk because this is considered to be better for the environment (less emissions from less use of refrigeration). In fact, the opposite is true - organic milk is considerably worse for the environment.

Research carried out by Rusty Bishop, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, shows that even in countries such as Canada and the USA (where UHT sales are considerably less than half of all milk sales) "over 80% of organic milk is sold as organic UHT milk."

All kinds of UHT milk (whether organic or nonorganic) are worse for health than non-UHT milk for a variety of reasons. For example, it is a fact that UHT is much higher in damaged whey proteins compared to non-UHT milk. Damaged whey proteins are a major cause of brain diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Alzheimer's disease. There is plenty of research to support this view.

For example, in a study published in January 2007 in the American Journal of Epidemiology a clear link was found between Parkinson's Disease and milk. The diets of over 130,000 people were analysed and it was found that those who consumed the most cow's milk had a massive 70 percent higher risk of getting the disease.

Why, though, is organic milk so much worse for health than regular milk? Isn't organic milk assumed to have less pesticides and no antibiotics? Isn't organic milk assumed to be more environmentally friendly and kinder to cows? When the evidence is fully examined, none of these assumptions hold true. The research is clearly showing that organic milk has no less pesticides and antibiotics than regular pasteurized milk. And the vast majority of organic cows (in all parts of the world) are treated no better than nonorganic cows. For commercial and practical reasons most cows are kept in cow sheds and restricted to very confined spaces for most of their lives. The assumption that organic cows are allowed to go out to pasture most days is simply a myth.

It is also a myth that organic milk is better for the environment. In fact, all the research is showing the opposite, that organic milk is considerably worse for the environment in terms of energy consumption and global-warming emissions. Pint for pint, organic milk uses up more energy for warehousing, distribution and transportation. This happens because organic milk is mostly produced by smaller farms, and they simply cannot take advantage of the economies of scale in the way that regular milk can.