The Pasteurization Process

A Brief History:

Though not as well-known as the man who gave his name to this process, Italian
biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799, right) laid the groundwork for germ
theory by showing that microbes do not just 'appear' spontaneously.

His early work with the heat sterilization of food in the 1760's formed the basis
for research done by French chemist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) nearly a century
later.

In the 1850's, Pasteur (below, right) began to examine why products like wine and beer
sometimes went sour during the fermentation process. This led to his discovery that the
souring was caused by certain unwanted strains of bacteria and yeast, or 'germs,' as he called
them.

Taking a cue from Spallanzani, he found that heating below boiling, then rapidly
cooling wine, killed the spoilage organisms busily trying to turn it into vinegar.
This heat sterilization process, dubbed 'pasteurization' (not 'pasture-ization' as
some call it), was first proposed for use on milk in 1886 by German agricultural
chemist Franz von Soxhlet.

The first commercial pasteurization machines came on-line in the mid-1890's and remained
the standard for decades. Recently, ultra-high temperature pasteurization, commercially
available since 1948, has become more common due to the increased shelf-life and total
sterilization it gives milk.

Types of Pasteurization:

There are basically two methods of pasteurization in use today- batch and
continuous flow.

In the batch process (batch pasteurizer, right) , a large quantity of milk is held
in a heated vat at 149°F./65°C. for 30 minutes, followed by quick cooling to
about 39°F./4°C.

In the continuous flow process (continuous flow pasteurizer, below, right)-also

known as HTST, for high temperature, short time, milk is forced between metal plates or
through pipes heated on the outside by hot water.

While flowing under pressure, the milk is held at 161°F/72°C. for at least
16 seconds. Before being chilled back to 39°F./4°C. or cooler, it flows
through a heat exchanger to pre-warm cold milk just entering the system.

Effects of Pasteurization:
The ultimate goal in heat treating milk is the destruction of all pathogenic or disease-causing
microbes. Usually (but not always), assuming the machinery is functioning properly, the
process accomplishes this task effectively.

Numerous studies have shown, however, that bad bugs are not the only thing destroyed by
the heat: delicate proteins, enzymes, immune factors, hormones, vitamins, mineral
availability- all undergo definite changes during the heating process. No one seriously
disputes this fact.

What is not clear though, due to conflicting science and belief systems, is to what extent the
food value of the milk is actually impacted. When man-made nutrients (often inferior to their
natural form) must be added back in to replace those destroyed by heat, there is no argument.
The quality of the milk has suffered.

And who speaks for the hundreds of factors and components present in raw milk, known and
unknown, that synergistically create a whole, healing food?

What truly becomes of raw milk's many natural hormones, immune modulators and enzymes
if, say, certain other key substances designed to assist their proper function are ultimately
destroyed (and not replaced)?

Is the calcium our bodies absorb from pasteurized dairy somehow altered so that it goes to
places other than needed or wanted? The unanswered questions continue to pile up...

Raw milk is an incredibly complex substance, the science of which we've still only begun to
tweeze apart. Bear in mind, also, that the majority of milk research from the mid 1940's on
has been, and continues to be, performed using pasteurized product.

There's no question that pasteurization, while far from flawless, is a valuable and necessary
process, especially where factory-farmed milk is concerned, but the ability to buy and
consume clean, living foods with their myriad bits and pieces intact should also be an option
for those who so choose.

Not All Raw Milk Is The Same!

How can that be? It all comes from cows, right? Yes, but
that's where the similarity ends. The truth is, there are actually
two types of raw milk here in America: the one meant to be
consumed directly from the cow, and the one that absolutely
must be pasteurized first due to the conditions under which it
was produced.

The ideal raw milk is taken straight from animals fed only
fresh, organic, green grass, rapidly cooled to somewhere
around 36-38 degrees F., and bottled. That's it. No processing,
just filtration, and cooling. Most milk produced today undergoes some form of processing
before it reaches the consumer.

Diet is a major factor in the quality of raw milk. Studies have shown that over-feeding
starchy grains can affect the acidity of the cow's stomach environment and change fat and
nutrient levels (1,2).

Raw milk from cows fed a large component of grain is just not as optimal a food as grass-fed
and lacks many of milk's self-protective properties. Milk like this, potentially more easily
contaminated, should be tested regularly, as should all raw milk, for that matter.

Many non-grass foods (such as soy and alfalfa) contain compounds that mimic the actions of
the female hormone, estrogen (3). While these can cause cows to produce more milk than
they normally would (and thus increase profit per animal), some studies have called into
question possible impacts on animal health and nutrient content of the milk.

Cows are ruminants, with a complex digestive system designed to break down cellulose, a
type of structural sugar indigestible to humans, and other substances found in the cell walls of
grasses and other green plants they're likely to encounter while grazing.

Prior to the advent of organized agriculture about 10,000 years ago, there simply weren't
fields of grain growing wild, upon which animals could munch. As mentioned above, a heavy
starch load of grain can alter the usual conditions in a cow's rumen (stomach) and affect the
composition of its milk.

Milk from grass-fed cows has amazing properties, one of which is the
presence of naturally produced antimicrobials in solution (5). Another is
the production of a beneficial fatty acid known as CLA, short for
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (6,7).

Countless studies have shown that CLA has many potential health benefits.
For comparison, grain-fed cows have as little as one fifth the CLA in their milk as grass-fed
(8).

Some raw milk can make you very, very ill. Drinking milk destined for the pasteurizer before
it's sterilized can be like playing Russian roulette, but with ALL the barrels loaded. Why?
Mainly because cleanliness standards are far lower for milk which will eventually be heat
treated.

In large operations, there simply isn't enough open pasture land to contain and grass-feed
hundreds of animals, so they're often confined in manure-laden pens.

Supercows, bred for hyperactive pituitary glands or injected with stimulant hormones (such
as Posilac) produce an elevated quantity (as high as 13 gallons) of milk daily, leading to
inflamed teats. This condition, known as mastitis, pumps high numbers of white blood cells,
or pus, into the milk (9).

Supercows don't live nearly as long as naturally bred animals- perhaps they're lucky in that
respect...
Add the potential of toxic drug residues, antibiotics, larvicides (10), pesticides (11,12),
fertilizers and heavy metals (13) and you have quite a witches brew. Many of the outbreaks
of food related illnesses blamed on raw milk can be traced to just such product somehow
bypassing the pasteurization process.

You can see why humans have no business consuming raw milk produced by the large
factory farm complexes that dominate the industry today. It's simply not safe for human
consumption before it's processed.

The role of unclean raw milk in human illness is undeniable. Knowing that not all raw milk is
the same is the first step in knowing which questions to ask when you seek it out for yourself
and your family. In the following clip, Dr. William Campbell Douglass sheds more light on
how to inform yourself about raw milk and nutrition.

What's in Raw Milk?

Just what is in raw milk? Think of it is as an oil/water emulsion.
It's also known in some circles as a colloidal suspension.

To make every gallon of milk, a cow must pump from 600-800

gallons of blood through her udder. Think of that next time you
pour yourself a glass. That cow poured her heart into it!

Whole raw milk's composition varies slightly among cow species,

type of food and other conditions, so the figures below (and, at
right, from a commercial raw milk dairy) are only
approximations.

Here's a rough breakdown in percent of total volume:

Water 87.3%

Milk Fats 3.9%

Non-fat Solids (Protein, Milk Sugar, Immune Factors,

etc.) 8.8%
A. Casein Proteins (~80% of Total Milk Protein-TMP)
1. Alpha s1 [30.6%]
2. Alpha s2 [8.0%]
3. Beta [28.4%]
4. Kappa [10.1%]
B. Whey Proteins (~20% of TMP)
1. Alpha lactalbumin [3.7%]
2. Beta lactoglobulin [9.8%]
3. Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) [1.2%]
4. Immuoglobulins [2.1%]
5. Proteose peptone [2.4%]

Milk Sugar (Lactose) 4.6%

Minerals 0.65%
Calcium
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Potassium
Sodium
Zinc
Chlorine
Iron
Copper
Sulfates
Bicarbonates
Trace Elements

Acids 0.18%
Citric
Formic
Acetic
 Lactic
Oxalic

Vitamins/Enzymes 0.12%

    

Raw Milk Fats:

Few words are as highly charged in the food world as "fat." Perhaps "lipid" would be a better
word. Please see my Fat Primer for images and more information on this wonderful, energy-
laden food group.

In milk, more than 95% of the fats form into spherical shaped objects called globules from
0.1 to 15 microns in diameter (that's pretty tiny- a micron is a millionth of a meter, or roughly
25,400 to the inch.)

Just over 98% of the lipids in milk are in the class known as triglycerides- a glycerol
molecule (glycerin) with three fatty acids (of various lengths and saturations) attached. There
are ten major fatty acids found in milk to varying degree:

Butyric Acid 4 (# of Carbon atoms)

Caproic Acid 6
Caprylic Acid 8
Capric Acid 10
Lauric Acid 12
Myristic Acid 14
Palmitic Acid 16
Stearic Acid 18
Oleic Acid 18:1 (one double bond)
CLA 18:2 (two double bonds)
Milk also contains cholesterol, another controversial and dreaded word. For the most part, it's
located in the cores of fat globules, and amounts to roughly 0.3% of all milk lipids. The less
we get in our diets, the more our bodies make on their own. Check out my Cholesterol Primer
to get the straight scoop on why this much-maligned substance is essential to our health.

Raw Milk Proteins:

Proteins are complex molecules comprised of long chains of amino acids. Depending on
interactions between some of the amino acids, the molecules can twist into helical formations
or pleated sheets (secondary structure). Tertiary proteins undergo further coiling and folding.
When clustered together somewhat spherically, they are known as globular proteins. Fibrous
tertiary proteins are formed when two or more long strands of amino acids form links along
their length.

The caseins, normally highly digestible in the intestinal tract, are relatively heat stable. Being
secondary in structure, and so without much complex structure to unravel, they survive the
heat of pasteurization (145-160 deg. F.) fairly well. After ultra-high temperature (UHT)
pasteurization (280-305°F./138-152°C.) their fate is uncertain.

The whey proteins,including the immunoglobulins, are very sensitive to heat (heat labile) and
denature well below the heat of normal pasteurization.

Incidentally, the denaturation of whey protein affects the whiteness of milk. Milk gets whiter
after it's processed.

By the way, did I mention that not all raw milk is the same? It's not. Check my About Raw
Milk page to find out why.

Milk Sugar:

Lactose, the first carbohydrate most baby mammals ever taste, is actually made up of two
simple sugars, glucose and galactose, making it a disaccharide. Cow's milk hovers at around
5% lactose (human milk averages a bit higher at just over 7% by comparison). It's got a fairly
low glycemic index (doesn't boost insulin levels very quickly) and so is better tolerated by
diabetics.

As some people age, their levels of lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose, drop
significantly. When they consume heat treated dairy products with no remaining food enzyme
activity, they lack sufficient lactase to break the milk sugar down, and suffer numerous
unpleasant symptoms, notably gas and bloating. Not fun. But raw milk, with live, friendly
lactobacilli, has its bacterially-produced lactase intact, so chances are good these folks may
be able to tolerate it.

Another way to enjoy the benefits of dairy with almost none of the lactose, is to eat fermented
products such as yogurt and kefir. The friendly microbes, during the fermentation process,
have consumed pretty much all the lactose, turning it into the sour tasting lactic acid that's
such a powerful antimicrobial agent.

Raw milk cheeses are another tasty way to enjoy dairy without the lactose. Again, most of the
lactose is consumed in the fermentation process.
Minerals in Raw Milk:

The mineral content of milk varies with a host of conditions as well. Soil quality,
geographical location, species of cow, health of the animal- all these factors and more come
into play.

Accesibility to raw milk's mineral content is dependent upon its enzymes and other factors
remaining functional. Here are some approximate values for mineral levels in the average
quart of raw milk:

Mineral Content per quart (Typical range):

Sodium__330-850mg
Potassium__1040-1600mg
Chloride__850-1040mg
Calcium__1040-1225mg
Magnesium__85-130mg
Phosphorus__850-940mg
Iron__280-570ug
Zinc__1880-5660ug
Copper__95-570ug
Manganese__19-47ug
Iodine __~245ug
Fluoride__28-207ug
Selenium__4.7-63ug
Cobalt__0.47-1.23ug
Chromium__7.5-12.3ug
Molybdenum__17-113ug
Nickel__0-47ug
Silicon__700-6600ug
Vanadium__trace-290ug
Tin__38-470ug
Arsenic__19-57ug

Vitamins in Raw Milk:

Raw milk contains every known fat and water soluble vitamin. To get them all, make sure
you drink whole raw milk or you'll miss those lost in the skimming process.

Vitamin C levels, already fairly low in cow's milk (typically less than 20mg/quart- about half
the level found in human milk), have been shown to drop further when exposed to ultraviolet
light such as from sunlight or fluorescently lights. Store it in the dark at home, and ask your
store to look into UV filters for their cold-case lights. Here are some approximate but typical
amounts of vitamins found in raw milk:

Vitamin Content per quart (Approximate):

A__375ug
C__19mg
D__38IU
E__940ug
K__47ug
B1__425ug
B2__1650ug
Niacin__850ug
B6__470ug
Pantothenic acid__3300ug
Biotin__33ug
Folic acid__52ug
B12__4.25ug

Enzymes in Raw Milk:

Yet another controversial topic, and important enough to deserve a website all its own, the
enzymes in raw milk are crucial in making it the valuable healing food it is.

The arguments range from their having no digestive benefit because they can't withstand the
acid environment of the stomach, to outright denial of their existence.

No one can truthfully or knowingly deny that these powerful but fragile protein-based
substances are in milk for a purpose. Getting people to agree on that purpose is another
matter entirely!

To understand their importance, it's helpful to know what enzymes are, and what they do in
foods and in our bodies.

Basically, enzymes are complex forms of protein (made out of amino acids) that can change
(catalyze) other substances without taking part in the reaction themselves. In digestion, for
instance, they help break down starches, fats and proteins into chunks the body can use.

Here's a list of the more important enzymes in raw milk:

Amylase
Catalase
Lactase-(through bacterial synthesis)
Lactoperoxidase
Lipase
Phosphatase
More About Enzymes
Enzymes are complex proteins that facilitate, catalyze or speed up chemical reactions. The
precise order of amino acids in the proteins from which they're made determines their shape,
and their shape determines their function.

Typically, each enzyme does just one thing, so there are just about as many enzymes as there
are different things for them to do. Without taking part themselves, they make possible
hundreds of thousands of processes in our bodies: they can chop things up (hydrolases), put
things together (ligases), split double bonds between atoms (lyases), and move chemical
groups from molecule to molecule (transferases). If it's a biochemical reaction, there's an
enzyme involved.

Enzymes have a life-span, just like other living things. Some only live for twenty minutes or
so, while others can live for many weeks before some other enzyme comes along and seals
their fate.

The slowest-acting known enzyme, lysozyme (an anti-bacterial enzyme found in raw milk),
can process about thirty molecules a minute. Pretty fast, but compared to carboanhydrase, a
600,000 molecules/second speed demon, it's just an amateur... I'll bet the quick one is the
twenty minute wonder mentioned above!

Every living organism needs enzymes to survive. Without them life would pretty much be
impossible: the wrong substances would be made, reactions would happen too slowly- in
other words, without enzymes, you'd die. And speaking of death, enzymes play a role there,
too.

All plant and animal cells contain little sacs of digestive enzymes called lysosomes. When the
cells die, these bags eventually break open and self-digestion begins. We know it as decay,
but you can, say, throw the chicken or fish into the fridge and stave things off for a bit.

So now you know about food's own complement of digestive enzymes that help our bodies
break it down. Heating food above 118°F./48°C. destroys most of these natural helpers,
forcing us to make our own digestive enzymes to get at the nutrients. Having to make our
own digestive enzymes puts an extra burden on our pancreas, which is typically busy enough
with other metabolic needs.

I consider food enzymes to be right next to proteins, carbohydrates and fats, in importance. A
fourth major food group, if you will. The late enzyme expert, Dr. Edward Howell, believed
that life-span was related to the rate at which an organism's enzyme potential was exhausted.
He felt the increased use of food enzymes (either from raw foods or supplements) reduced the
rate of enzyme potential exhaustion.

Raw milk, especially that from grass-fed cows, has a full complement of the very food
enzymes Dr. Howell held in such high regard. The short list below is far from
comprehensive, and by no means implies that everyone is on the same page regarding
enzymes.
This much is certain, though: heating milk substantially above the body temperature of a cow
undeniably causes changes in its ingredients. Higher heat = more changes. Unwanted changes
or not depends on who you ask and who pays his or her salary.

AMYLASE:

An ingredient in saliva and pancreatic juice as well as raw milk , amylase breaks down starch,
glycogen and other related carbohydrates. It's also the most commonly found enzyme in
plants, particularly abundant in sweet potato, corn and starchy grains like oats, wheat and
barley. It appears to be inactivated by the pasteurization/homogenization processes.

CATALASE:

Involved with waste management on the cellular level, catalase rids cells of hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2), an unwanted by-product of cellular metabolism. A strong oxidizer, H2O2
can wreak havoc in the cellular environment. Catalase quickly locks onto it and cleaves it into
oxygen and water. It appears to be inactivated at temperatures above 158° F./70°C.

LACTASE:

Lactase (a member of the beta-galactosidase group of enzymes) splits milk sugar (lactose)
into the two simple sugars glucose and galactose. Found exclusively in mammalian milk,
lactose is only one sixth as sweet as cane or beet sugar (sucrose).

Many people lose the ability to make lactase as they mature, so must either get it in their food
or take supplements to avoid unpleasant side effects (lactose intolerance). Other folks, from
regions in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East, through a helpful genetic mutation,
produce the enzyme in their intestinal tracts, even as adults. The lactase in raw milk, present
from bacterial synthesis, appears to be inactivated by the pasteurization/homogenization
processes.

LACTOPEROXIDASE:

Identical to the peroxidase found in saliva and gastric juice, lactoperoxidase teams up with
two other substances found in varying levels in milk (oxidized thiocyanate and hydrogen
peroxide) to form an antimicrobial complex. I'd imagine there's tough competition from
catalase for any free hydrogen peroxide floating around...

Lactoperoxidase appears to be fairly heat resistant at normal pasteurization temperatures

(roughly 50% is inactivated in milk held at 158° F./70°C. for 20 minutes) but is completely
inactivated at 176°F./80°C. in just 5 minutes. Lysozyme, the anti-microbial slow-poke
mentioned above, is present in much lower quantities than lactoperoxidase.

LIPASE:

Actually a class of water-soluble enzymes, lipases break down fats (triglycerides) into fatty
acids, and improve utilization of lipids throughout the body. Disruption of the fat globules, as
in homogenization, can lead to rancidity if lipase isn't destroyed first. Pasteurization makes
short work of it. It's normally inactive in raw milk until triggered by the proper pH in the
digestive tract.
PHOSPHATASE:

A key enzyme in accessing two of milk's important minerals, phosphorus and calcium,
phosphatase hydrolyses (breaks down with water) complex compounds in milk (called
phosphate esters) to release phosphorus ions. Optimal calcium absorption is dependent on
proper ratios of phosphorus and magnesium.

Phosphatase is completely destroyed at the lowest typical pasteurizing temperatures (which

are also the highest needed to kill pathogenic bacteria). Food processors test for the total
absence of phosphatase to determine if pasteurization was successful. Presumably, its
absence also makes getting phosphorus and calcium out of the milk more difficult for our
bodies.

The Fat Primer

If you're afraid of butter, use cream.

-Julia Child (1912-2004)

The subject of fats is downright confusing, no doubt about it. My aim with the Fat Primer is
to take some of the mystery out of this high energy food group (9 calories/gram, 28g/ounce!)
by giving you a basic, easy to grasp look at the world of fat.

To understand fats, you need to be willing to endure a little bit of chemistry. Don't worry! I'll
keep it simple and use lots of pictures. Many apologies in advance to my chemistry profs for
leaving out so many details!

Let's start with the raw materials for all fats: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Certain atoms can
hold on to, or 'bond' with other elements. Carbon, for instance, has 4 bonds available. Oxygen
has two, hydrogen, only one.

Seems simple enough, but what a dizzying array of things you can make with just these three simple
elements! We'll stick with the fats for now, though, and consider one last thing about carbon. Two
carbon atoms next to each other can share either one or two bonds in the fats you're likely to find in
raw milk:
The type of bond determines the number of hydrogens each carbon can hold. The two carbons to
the left, above, held together by a single bond, are said to be 'saturated' because they're holding all
the hydrogens they can. That's all saturated means. Nothing to do with being wet!

The two carbons above on the right, connected by a double bond, are 'unsaturated' because
each could possibly hold on to one more hydrogen if they weren't busy being so friendly with
one another.

Because of the interactions of adjacent atoms, fatty acids with only single bonds tend to be
straight and more stable than those with double bonds.

Molecules tend to kink where there's a double bond- the main reason saturated fats like butter
and lard are solids at room temperature (the straight chains fit together tightly), and vegetable
oils with their multiple double bonds are liquids (the kinks keep them from packing as
closely)- think of uncooked, parallel spaghetti vs. elbow macaroni, for instance.

The building blocks of all fats are called fatty acids. Simply put, they're chains of carbon
atoms connected like beads on a string, with hydrogen atoms on each carbon and an acid
(carboxyl) group on one end.

The number of carbon atoms in each fatty acid chain, the type of bonds between the carbons,
and how many hydrogens the carbons are holding on to, all determine the type of fat and its
characteristics. Fatty acids with one double bond in the chain are called monounsaturated,
with two or more, polyunsaturated.
Most fats in our bodies and foods are in the form of 'triglyceride' molecules = one glycerol (or
glycerin, a sugar alcohol) + three fatty acids attached:

High levels of triglycerides in the blood have definitely been linked to the potential for heart disease.
Their source is not from fats in the diet though, but rather from excess carbohydrates not burned for
energy.

Overeating sugar or white flour products causes a spike in insulin, the hormone which,
besides controlling blood sugar, also triggers the formation of fats destined for storage. The
fats in raw milk aren't the problem. It's the half a bag of chocolate chip cookies you're
dunking in it that's setting you up for circulatory grief...

To complicate things a bit further, and because chemistry wouldn't be chemistry if it didn't
throw the occasional curveball, unsaturated fats can have different shapes or configurations
depending on which side of the double bond the hydrogens end up.

This concept is important because the shape of the whole triglyceride molecule, and thus it's
properties and characteristics, is affected by what happens at each double bond.

As you can see, in a 'cis' (pronounced 'siss') formation, the hydrogens are on the same side.
With 'trans' formations, they're on opposite sides of the double bond. The linear stick and
letter figures I've been using don't really show the true shapes of the cis/trans unsaturated
fatty acids accurately. In actuality, as mentioned above, there's a lot of bending going on
whenever double bonds enter the scene.
Trans fatty acids have been in the news quite a bit recently, especially now that food manufacturers
have to disclose their presence on package labels, but we have to backtrack a bit to see why.

When vegetable oil processors thought it would be cool to make their products stay solid at
room temperature, like butter and lard, they came up with a process called hydrogenation
which yielded margarine and shortening. Crisco, by the way, of which I must have eaten a
ton in baked goods when I was a kid, is hydrogenated cottonseed or soybean oil.

Nobel Prize winner Paul Sabatier (1854-1941, at right) is considered the father of the
hydrogenation process. He discovered in 1897 that the metal, nickel, catalyzes, or
facilitates, the attachment of hydrogen to carbon compounds.

In the actual process, workers heat the oil to very high temperatures and bubble
hydrogen gas through it in the presence of nickel or some other catalytic metal. Since the
vegetable oils are unsaturated, they can take on a few more hydrogens.

When they do, the molecule stiffens, and the fat is now closer to a solid. They can control just
how firm it gets by how long they pump the gas through. That's why you'll sometimes see the
term 'partially hydrogenated' on ingredient labels.

What also happens during hydrogenation, or later, during high heat cooking with the
processed oils, is the formation of molecules so strangely configured that they're completely
unsuitable for use in our bodies.

As an added bonus, the double bonds in these foreign fatty acids are easily broken, allowing
the formation of free radicals- highly reactive molecules with an unpaired electron, just
looking for something to grab on to.

Promotion of breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes, weakened immune systems and hormonal
dysfunction are just some of the maladies for which studies have implicated these unnatural
trans fats.

The point I'm trying to make in presenting all this information is that, yes, there are bad fats,
but there are good fats, as well. Consider that the traditional fats eaten by our ancestors, and
cultures around the world, were more often saturated than not, but that cardiovascular disease
was almost unknown before the introduction of hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Our bodies badly need saturated fats- they make up half or more of our cell walls, they
bolster our immune systems, nourish our heart muscle, carry important fat soluble vitamins
and antioxidants, and, in the case of butter, contain anti-fungal, anti-microbial and anti-cancer
agents.

Here's the good news: the saturated fats in clean, raw milk can do all of that for you, and
much, much more.
Fatty Acids In The Cow
These are the major fatty acids found either in milk or the cow's rumen. Please see my CLA
page for more on that very special fatty acid. Total carbon atoms and double bonds are noted
- for example, C 3:0 means three total carbon atoms, no double bonds. Absence of double
bonds indicates total saturation of carbons with hydrogen. The first three are known as the
volatile fatty acids (VFA's):

Acetic Acid (C 2:0):

Propionic Acid (C 3:0):

Butyric Acid (C 4:0):

Caproic Acid (C 6:0):

Caprylic Acid (C 8:0):

Capric Acid (C 10:0):

Lauric Acid (C 12:0):

Myristic Acid (C 14:0):

Palmitic Acid (C 16:0):

Stearic Acid (C 18:0):

Oleic Acid (C 18:1):

Linoleic Acid (C 18:2):