Raw milk - is it actually good for you or just another wellness trend?

What is raw milk?

Raw milk - what the heck is it? Sounds like the opening line of an advert for my own wellness drink. But despite the unfortunate coincidence linking my surname to this title, I'm not here to sell you the latest health craze.

Raw milk is unpasteurised milk that is collected directly from cows and has not been treated with heat to remove potential harmful bacteria. Pasteurisation makes milk safer to drink and also helps it stay fresh for longer.

Gut health scientist Jordan Haworth, from the Functional Gut Clinic, says the recent surge in interest in raw milk has been fuelled largely by wellness influencers and celebrities - including Manchester City and Norway striker Erling Haaland.

“These people follow an ‘ancestral’ diet, meaning they try to eat like our ancestors in the least processed way possible,” he says. “Mind you, most of our ancestors never made it into their forties. According to data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), raw or unpasteurised dairy is 840 times more likely to make you sick than pasteurised.

“As a gut health scientist, I can tell you the number one cause of long-term digestive issues is food poisoning.”

Jordan Haworth

Is drinking raw milk good for you?

Fans of raw milk claim it offers a range of health benefits. However, as with any emerging health trend, it's important to look beyond the claims made by influencers, celebrities, and other public figures. Consider what qualified health experts and scientific evidence have to say before making any changes to your diet.

According to Haworth, these supposed health claims tend to fall into three main areas.

Supporters of raw milk argue that it:

1. Contains beneficial bacteria because it has not been pasteurised.

2. Can reduce or prevent a predisposition to allergies - comme le rhume des foins, asthma, and eczema (atopy).

3. Can reverse les symptômes de l'intolérance au lactose.

However, Haworth says these claims are either unsupported by the available evidence or have been shown to be inaccurate.

“For example, one study in the US tested over 2000 samples of raw milk from organic, hormone-free cows,” he says. “They found raw milk contained hardly any good bacteria, but did contain a lot of genes for antimicrobial resistance. These genes can be transferred to bacteria in your gut, meaning bacteria may become resistant to antibiotics.”

Haworth also highlights that there is no strong evidence to suggest drinking raw milk can prevent or cure atopy. He explains that this claim is largely based on the GABRIELA study, which found that children living in rural areas of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland who consumed more farm milk were less likely to develop atopy compared with other children.

Even so, this does not prove that raw milk itself was responsible for the difference. Haworth explains that other factors associated with rural living - such as greater exposure to farms, animals, and a wider range of microbes - could also have played a role.

“Lastly, raw milk lovers claim it can reverse lactose intolerance,” he adds. “However, a randomised, controlled trial published in the Annals of Family Medicine found that raw milk didn't reverse lactose intolerance in 16 adults who drank a pint of it daily.”

Does pasteurisation make milk less healthy?

Raw milk doesn't appear to live up to many of the health claims made about it. If anything, it's more likely to increase your chance of getting ill than provide any extra benefits. Pasteurised milk remains the safer choice, and while pasteurisation makes some small changes to the milk, those are far outweighed by the benefit of removing harmful bacteria.

Haworth explains that pasteurised milk can actually have higher levels of vitamin A (retinol), which is important for eye and brain health.

"It does reduce levels of some vitamins, including B1, B2, B12, and E, as well as folate,” he says. “However, only vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is significantly affected. This vitamin is important for energy production and blood health. Newer methods of high-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurisation cause very little change to vitamin B2 levels."

Haworth adds that heating milk can change some of its proteins and enzymes. For example, around 10–20% of whey protein becomes unfolded during pasteurisation.

"That said, this makes the protein easier to digest,” he notes. “Digestive enzymes such as lactase and lipase are also affected during pasteurisation. However, adding beneficial lactic acid bacteria to milk to make products such as yoghurt or kefir increases the amount of digestive enzymes. This means yoghurt and kefir can be more nutritious than milk alone and may be better for gut health."

How to support your gut health without drinking raw milk

If you’re looking for the same benefits that raw milk is often claimed to provide - but without the potential risks - there are other ways to support your gut health.

Haworth recommends choosing fermented foods such as Greek yoghurt and kefir instead. While pasteurisation removes microbes from milk, these fermented foods allow you to add good bacteria back into your diet in a more controlled way.

“The beneficial lactic acid bacteria found in yoghurt and kefir produce lactase - the enzyme responsible for breaking down lactose,” he says. “So, the more yoghurt and kefir you consume, the more of these bacteria can make their way into your gut and help you digest lactose.”

Haworth adds that when these bacteria ferment milk to create products such as yoghurt, kefir, and aged cheeses such as mature cheddar, feta, and parmesan, they naturally reduce the lactose content. This makes these foods easier for some people to digest.

“The bacteria also produce beneficial compounds - including vitamins, enzymes, and short-chain fatty acids, which are important for maintaining a strong and healthy gut lining,” he concludes.

“Studies show people who consume more fermented dairy tend to have a lower chance of developing heart and metabolic disease - such as obesity and type 2 diabetes - and may be able to fight off illness better.

"There's literally no evidence raw milk can do this.”