Pro

Theodore Beals, MD, former pathologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Ann Arbor, MI, in the case of Organic Pastures v. State of California, provided the following testimony on Apr. 25, 2008, in support of raw cow's milk and against CA legislation (AB 1735) which regulated coliform levels in raw milk:

“Beneficial bacteria provide benefits in a number of ways…[o]ne of the ways that they provide benefit is by producing specific substances which kill other [harmful] bacteria. Another way that they are beneficial to people is that they inhibit the growth of other [harmful] bacteria indirectly rather than just simply killing them. Additionally, they have been shown — beneficial bacteria have been shown to block the entrance of [harmful] bacteria into the body, therefore preventing the illness…

Prebiotic is a substance which when introduced to beneficial bacteria stimulates their growth or stimulates their beneficial activity. A probiotic is defined technically as bacteria, beneficial bacteria, which when added to a product or as a supplement provides those beneficial bacteria to the person that’s drinking the milk. My personal take on this is it’s obvious from the definitions that fresh market – raw market milk is in fact a prebiotic. It does stimulate beneficial organisms. And although not technically meeting the definition of a probiotic because it’s not added, these beneficial bacteria that are present are natively present in [raw] milk.”

Apr. 25, 2008