…. directly continued from Part IV
Pasteurization is when the milk is heated to a specific temperature for certain amount of time and then immediately cooled. This process is said to kill any potentially harmful bacteria. There are two main types of pasteurization: low heat (just plain pasteurization) and high heat (ultra pasteurization).
While, regular pasteurization, kills any potentially harmful bacteria it also destroys important and valuable nutrients like whey protein, enzymes that aid digestion, and its natural phosphates which are necessary to properly absorb its calcium.
Ultra pasteurization kills all the nutrients in the milk that have a short life span (which causes milk to sour and eventually go bad). While Ultra pasteurized milk has near limitless shelf-life, it is devoid of the nutrients that make drinking milk worthwhile.
That’s not all, most milks available at the grocery store are also homogenized. This means that the heated milk is forced through very small holes or pistons that tear the fat globules apart so that they are evenly dispersed through the milk. This changes the chemical makeup (its molecular structure) of the fat globules which actually make them harder for us to digest. So in addition to the pasteurization process which destroy nutrients and enzymes that make milk easy to digest, homogenization takes it one step further and changes the fat globules which make milk even more difficult for us to digest.
Left in it’s natural state, milk is a truly perfect food and an excellent source of protein. So what can you do? If you have access to organic milk straight from the cow, consult your midwife or ob/gyn. If he or she gives you the okay, enjoy some tasty fresh nutritious protein packed milk. The next best thing is gently pasteurized organic milk that is NOT homogenized. If you don’t have access to gently pasteurized non-homogenized milk, then go with the pasteurized homogenized organic milk, it’s a least a good source of protein. Perhaps the only kind of organic milk you have access to is the ultra pasteurized homogenized milk which is certainly better than a side of anti-nutrients (synthetic hormones, antibiotics, other chemicals) and it still provides the much needed protein unfortunately a large part of the milk’s natural micro-nutrient system is processed out of it. Do the best you can do and remember to take your prenatal vitamins!