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Red light therapy—also known as red LED light therapy, low-level light therapy (LLLT), photobiomodulation, and cold laser therapy—involves exposing bodily tissues to red and near-infrared light between the wavelengths of 660 nm and 890 nm with either low-level lasers or red LED lights. The light from these devices is used to treat a variety of conditions, from wrinkles to scarring to pesky wounds that won't heal. Some red light therapy units are small and handheld while others can be positioned above your face (like a dentist's lamp), and others look more like tanning beds.
"Near-infrared levels are best for wound healing and increased immune function," explains Amy Myers, M.D., compared to middle-infrared levels which are good for increasing circulation and promoting muscle relaxation, and far-infrared levels for detoxing.
"I've been using red LED light therapy for years, and I love it," adds Susana Salazar, holistic esthetician at Studio Britta in New York City. "It activates collagen production and has many other skin benefits such as accelerating the healing process, helping with inflammation and facial redness, minimizing dark spots, and improving overall circulation."
These red and near-infrared wavelengths do not burn or damage the skin (unlike the dangerous UVA rays in tanning beds), but they're thought to be absorbed by skin up to 10 millimeters—a lot deeper than any serum or cream can penetrate.
Surprisingly, red light therapy can be traced back to NASA. In the 1990s, scientists developed technology featuring red LEDs to help promote growth and photosynthesis in plants during space shuttle missions. This, in turn, prompted research into whether red light therapy might have benefits for humans, particularly for astronauts, who experience problems such as poor wound healing due to weightlessness.
The mechanism by which red light therapy delivers its benefits is still poorly understood, which makes it a bit controversial, but it's thought to work by stimulating the mitochondria in our skin cells. Mitochondria are the power plants of our cells that turn food and oxygen into energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Stimulated mitochondria are thought to produce more ATP, and thus, help cells function, regenerate, and repair themselves more efficiently. Stem cells may also be activated by red light therapy, which promotes increased tissue repair and healing.
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Managing Editor
Adrianna McIntyre
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February 19, 2019 at 8:17 am
Aaron CarrollCommuting is one of the least pleasant things we do. But it’s not just an annoying time waster — there’s a case that it’s a public health issue.
This episode was adapted from a column Austin wrote for the Upshot. Links to sources can be found there.
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Washington officials have declared a public health emergency as an outbreak of measles spreads across an anti-vaccination "hot spot" near Portland, Ore.
Clark County, Washington, has seen 23 confirmed cases of measles as of Tuesday, according to a statement from the public health department.
Twenty of those who contracted the highly contagious virus were not vaccinated against measles. The immunization status of three people have not yet been confirmed and at least one person has been hospitalized.
Clark County, which is just across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore., is a “hot spot” for outbreaks because of the high rate of nonmedical vaccine exemptions, The Washington Post reported.
An estimated 7 percent of students in Clark County were exempt from compulsory vaccines upon entering kindergarten by claiming personal or religious reasons in the 2017-2018 school year, according to state data.
Roughly 2 percent of children across the country forgo required immunizations for nonmedical reasons.
Peter J. Hotez, a professor of pediatrics and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told the Post that he had predicted an outbreak in the area for a while.
“It’s really awful and really tragic and totally preventable,” Hotez said.
The number of “philosophical-belief” vaccine exemptions has flourished since 2009 and 12 of the 18 states that allow such exemptions have seen outbreaks of measles, the research found.
“Hotspot metropolitan areas” included Portland, Seattle, Phoenix and Detroit, according to Hotez’s study published in the Public Library of Science.
“Portland is a total train wreck when it comes to vaccine rates,” Hotez said in an interview with the Post.
New York is also battling its most severe outbreak of the disease in decades, with 182 confirmed cases as of last Thursday. The New York Times reported last week that the outbreak is almost exclusively among the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said two doses of the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella is about 97 percent effective at preventing the illness.
The modern anti-vaccination movement has persisted despite research debunking the myth that MMR vaccine is linked to autism.
The airborne illness became the leading killer of children across the world after smallpox was eradicated in 1980, the Post reported. It was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 after there was no continuous transmission of the disease for more than a year.
Hotez told the Post that he blames the anti-vaccination movement for the resurgence of the virus, calling it a “self-inflicted wound.”
There was a total of 349 confirmed measles cases across 26 states and the District of Columbia last year — the second highest number since 2000, according to the CDC. There were 667 cases reported in 2014.
Symptoms begin with a fever followed by a cough, runny nose and red eyes. A rash of tiny, red spots then spreads across the rest of the body, according to the CDC.
People infected with the virus in Clark County have visited schools and churches, a dentist’s office, a Costco, an Ikea and an Amazon locker pickup station, city officials said in a Tuesday statement.
“If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch a contaminated surface, then touch their eyes, noses or mouths, they can become infected,” the county warned in a statement. “Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected.”
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Salmon is the second most popular type of seafood in the U.S. (shrimp is the first), with just over 2 pounds consumed annually, per person.1 While many love its flavor, a key reason behind its popularity has to do with its perceived health benefits. As a rich source of beneficial animal-based omega-3 fats, salmon can, indeed, be a very healthy food choice.
However, it can also be among the worst food choices, and the difference lies in the details. While wild-caught Alaskan salmon is an example of good-for-you salmon, rich in healthy fats and low in pollutants, farm-raised salmon is not. Unfortunately, farm-raised makes up 75 percent of the salmon consumed worldwide, and its volume has increased nearly 1,000 percent from 1990 to 2015.2
The video above, captured by Don Staniford of Scottish Salmon Watch, shows dead salmon rotting in dumpsters at two Scottish salmon farms, one owned by Marine Harvest and the other by Scottish Salmon Company.
“This is symptomatic of factory farming — it’s the underbelly of battery factory salmon farming. Infectious diseases are rife in the industry and about a fifth of farmed salmon stock is dying. The fish in these tanks are not going to shops but they have been swimming alongside ones that are,” Staniford said in a news release.3 “These fish are dying of horrible infections and diseases.”
It’s unclear how the fish in the video died, but salmon farms are required to store dead fish in a safe manner prior to disposal.4 How many farmed salmon are dying every year in Scotland?
According to Scottish Salmon Watch in a submission to the Scottish Parliament in March 2018, record levels of mortalities were uncovered in 2017 — 25,000 tons amounting to an estimated 15 million to 20 million farmed salmon, which is a mortality rate of 26.7 percent.5
The mortalities appear to be on the rise, increasing from 5,000 tons in 2002 to 10,000 tons in 2011. As for what’s killing the fish, a laundry list of diseases was reported on Scottish salmon farms in 2017, including:6
Salmon gill poxvirus |
Paranucleospora theridion |
Gill pathology |
Complex gill issues |
Vibrio anguillarum |
Proliferative gill disease |
Amoebic gill disease |
Pancreas disease |
Fungus |
Cardiomyopathy syndrome |
Haemorrhagic smolt syndrome |
Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) |
Enteric redmouth disease |
Anemia |
Farmed salmon is Scotland’s biggest food export, bringing in more than $789 million annually,7 and the industry is set to expand from a volume of 163,000 tons in 2016 to 200,000 tons in 2020.8 The industry claims aquaculture, as fish farming is known, is beneficial because it creates jobs while providing a sustainable source of food, but conservation groups and even government entities are finding otherwise.
The Scottish Parliament's Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee issued a report in 2018 that found a host of concerning issues surrounding farmed salmon and concluded the industry could “cause irrecoverable damage to the environment” if said issues were not addressed.9 Some of the top issues covered in the report include:10
Sea Lice
Sea lice are marine parasites that attach to salmon skin, feeding on their skin and blood and leading to wounds that can be life threatening. Fish farms, with their large numbers of salmon living in close proximity, are ideal breeding grounds for sea lice, and there’s potential for lice on salmon farms to infect wild salmon, damaging their populations.
“Although conclusive evidence for damage at the population level is hard to find in Scotland, studies in Norway show that increasing sea lice burdens on wild salmonids adds to pressures on the wild populations already impacted by climate change, river modification and commercial fishing,” the report noted.11
While medications added to farmed salmon feed or water can help prevent sea lice buildup, they only represent a bandage — not a solution to the problem.
“Nearly all of these treatments are costly, none are fully effective, and most need to be repeated,” according to the review.12 “In addition, sea lice populations also appear to be developing resistance to many existing treatment medicines and therapeutants.”
The Scottish Salmon Company has attempted to block the public release of photos showing their diseased salmon and even claimed losses of more than $1.3 million in 2016 because of sea lice and other disease. Despite this, they reported profits of over $38 million in 2017.13 Sea lice also represent a welfare issue for the fish, as the parasites can literally eat the salmon alive.
OneKind, an animal welfare group in Scotland, is calling for a halt on expansions to salmon farms until the sea lice issue and other welfare concerns are under control.
“It is now widely acknowledged that fish are sentient animals and are capable of feeling pain,” OneKind campaigner Sarah Moyes told The Ferret. “Not only does this make this suffering wholly unacceptable, but the industry’s reputation is once again being damaged by another report of animal neglect.”14
Diseases Could Spread to Wild Salmon
The Scottish Parliament report pointed out that fish farms provide a “favorable habitat” for the growth and spread of pathogens and parasites. Water currents can then spread the pathogens from farmed fish to wild salmon populations.
“There is some evidence that some disease is transmitted between farmed and wild fish by direct infection, by escapees, or by infection from wild to farmed fish,” the researchers noted, and “Increased numbers and sizes of farms could lead to increased risk of infection of wild fish unless improvements in farm biosecurity and disease prevention outpace the expansion of production.”15
Fish Farm Waste Accumulates on the Seabed, Degrades Marine Life
Like concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on land, fish farms produce an inordinate amount of waste, which sinks to the seafloor, not only reducing oxygen levels in the water but also physically smothering the organisms living on the seafloor (benthic animals).
Seabed marine life are known to significantly degrade when located beneath or near fish farms, and although they can recover if the industrial site is abandoned, full recovery can take more than two years. Further, monitoring of marine life is not sufficient enough near farms or in protected habitats, to reveal whether long-term damage is occurring.
Fish Farms May Lead to Nutrient Overload, Algae Blooms
Increased nutrients, including ammonium and phosphate, are observed near salmon farms, which could disturb the balance of organisms, degrade water quality and lead to the overgrowth of algae.
Drugs and Other Chemicals Could Be Harming Ecosystems
Drugs and other chemicals, including pesticides and antibiotics, used in the treatment of sea lice, fungal infections and bacterial infections in farmed salmon also pose a risk to the surrounding ecosystem.
For instance, British Columbia granted aquaculture company Cermaq Canada a permit to apply 2.3 million liters of Paramove 50, a pesticide, to 14 salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound in order to fight sea lice.
Not only may the pesticide be toxic to other marine life such as Dungeness crab, prawns and herring, but it’s also known to suppress salmon immune systems, making them even more susceptible to viruses. In turn, wild salmon swimming by may be further exposed to deadly diseases.
“Increased production is likely to require additional use of existing or newly developed chemicals,” the report added. “There is a lack of ability to adequately predict low-level effects of long-term usage of these chemicals on benthic and pelagic ecosystem components at the scale of lochs.”16
Escaped Farmed Salmon Could Interbreed With Wild Populations
It’s estimated that 146,000 farmed salmon escape from fish farms into the sea in Scotland alone, a number that’s likely underreported. In Norway, it’s already been shown that genes from farmed salmon have mixed with wild populations.17
Dangers Posed to Predators, Including Seals
A number of marine mammals and birds find salmon farms to be attractive sources of prey. One of the largely unknown casualties of industrial fish farms are seals, which may be legally shot by fish farmers and fishermen “when necessary” under the U.K.’s Conservation of Seals Act.18
According to Andy Ottaway,19 campaign director with the Seal Protection Action Group (SPAG), about 1,600 seals were shot in Scotland alone over the last six years, primarily by industrial fish farmers like Marine Harvest Scotland and Scottish Sea Farms.
Some fish farms have taken steps to deter seals using nonfatal means, such as the use of acoustic devices to scare seals away and removing dead fish from the cages to avoid luring the animals in. Still, gray seal populations have dwindled to 400,000 individuals worldwide, one-quarter of which live in U.K. waters.
Farmed salmon typically contain far more pollutants than wild-caught fish, along with an inferior profile of fatty acids. When the Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested farmed salmon from U.S. grocery stores, they found farmed salmon had, on average:20
Further, while half a fillet of wild Atlantic salmon contains about 3,996 milligrams (mg) of omega-3 and 341 mg of omega-6,21 the same amount of farmed Atlantic salmon contains an astounding 1,944 mg of omega-6.22
The standard American diet is already heavily skewed toward omega-6, thanks to the prevalence of processed foods, and with farmed salmon, that unhealthy imbalance is further magnified rather than corrected.
Part of the problem is the fish feed given to farmed salmon, which may include everything from fishmeal to corn gluten meal, soybean meal and feather meal.23 The fishmeal used to produce commercial fish feed not only accumulates toxins found in the fish, but also poses another sustainability threat.
About 25 percent of wild-caught fish — amounting to about 20 million tons of seafood — is used to make fishmeal that’s fed to farmed fish,24 and stocks of wild fish may be dwindling as a result.
It appears the word may be getting out about the potentially disastrous consequences of farmed fish to the environment and human health.
Nasdaq reported that prices for Norwegian farmed salmon are falling, with all major weight classes decreasing. The average price per kilo was $5.80 near the end of November 2018, down more than 10 percent compared to one month prior, and nearly 8 percent compared to 12 weeks prior.25
When seeking healthy, environmentally friendly salmon, look for "Alaskan salmon" and "sockeye salmon," as Alaskan sockeye is not allowed to be farmed. Avoid Atlantic salmon, as typically salmon labeled "Atlantic Salmon" comes from fish farms.
If price is a factor (wild salmon can be pricier than farmed varieties), canned salmon labeled "Alaskan salmon" is a less expensive alternative to salmon fillets but will still offer the health benefits and flavor you’re after.
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This week, the spotlight is shining on Holly Jade of The Little Blog of Vegan! Holly posts incredibly beautiful dinners and desserts that are sure to make you smile and want to try to make them yourself! Holly went vegan in 2015 and has seen many benefits since- check out her story to learn more.
Holly not only posts gorgeous and cute recipes, but her blog also features beauty and lifestyle sections for a cruelty-free life in more ways than just what’s on your plate. She also was named Food Blogger of the Year 2017! If you visit her site, you’ll very quickly see why. We love Holly’s amazing recipes and food photography, her advice on beauty and lifestyle, and her wonderful and kind posts. Check it out for yourself!
Don’t forget to check out our Blogger Spotlight Archives where we feature our amazing bloggers and their recipes every week!
The combination of the delicious vanilla cake with berry jam in these Mixed Berry Jam Filled Cupcakes is divine. Tastes just like summer! The cake is that simple, you don’t even have to have a stand mixer…it’s that easy!
This Chocolate Orange Cheesecake incorporates real orange juice and zest for a citrus burst. When you paired the citrus with a rich chocolatey base you get a dessert that is utterly divine! The cheesecake looks really impressive and would be perfect for a party or with dinner guests.
We are so happy to share with you the best vegan burger recipe…EVER! This bean burger along with homemade mustard and mayonnaise-based burger sauce is out of this world good. We’ve all had more than our fair share of lackluster veggie burgers, but this black beans patty is not one to miss out on- especially when you serve it with the thick, creamy, and mildly spiced sauce. Try these Black Bean Burgers With the Best Burger Sauce!
This irresistible Creamy Peanut Butter Cheesecake is the perfect treat for peanut lovers! You will surely drive your friends and family crazy over this cheesecake. It’s rich in all the right ways and completely raw. No baking required. Let’s do it.
The crust of these Easy Mince Pies contains only 3 ‘easy to find’ ingredients and is gluten-free! It’s light, crumbly and delicious. You’ll want to nibble on the whole batch, they’re that good. These are a delicious treat served warm with dairy-free ice cream. Delicious!
Pinks, reds, and chocolate create a romantic display in this elegant Raw Double Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake. The base is made with a mixture of hazelnuts, almonds, and chocolate. The texture is firm, crumbly and nutty; the perfect chocolatey base for any cheesecake. The next layer is a chocolate cheesecake layer which is rich and creamy. Then, comes a thick layer of raspberry cheesecake which adds an amazing and pretty pink color and yummy flavor. Adding in fresh fruit to a cheesecake brings out the natural colors of the fruit and gives an extra kick from the raspberries. Finally, it’s topped with a coconut cream and raspberry layer. Decorate as desired and serve to your favorite people!
Chana masala is a hearty mixture of stewed chickpeas and a nuanced blend of spices and the coconut cream makes it rich, decadent, and delicious. This 30-Minute Chana Masala is a great dish to serve before a party as a dip or to put over rice for the main course.
Looking for a trendy brunch idea? Look no further! These Ombre Strawberries and Cream Pancakes are a beautiful rainbow of red and white, topped with coconut cream and strawberries, and totally ready for your social feeds. Plus, they taste great too.
What beats a spicy samosa? Nothing! Because this version of Baked Tortilla Samosas uses tortillas and requires baking instead of frying, you will be left with healthier samosas that maintain the same tasty textures and flavors. The tortilla wraps crisp in the oven whilst the potato, carrot, and spinach filling remains perfect.
We understand: you’re a unicorn. And as a unicorn, you only deserve sweets that speak to your true inner being. That’s where this fabulous raw vegan Unicorn Cheesecake steps in. As much as this gorgeous ombre of three berry layers and rich vegan buttercream looks like a work of art, it’s actually easy and very fun to make and tastes delicious! When it comes to decorating your unicorn, go wild — top it with plenty of edible flowers, vegan candy, and sprinkle.
Chili and garlic in bread is a match made in heaven. This Chili Naan Bread is vegan, gluten-free, easy to make, and tastes divine. It absolutely tastes better than naan bread from a restaurant! It’s so fluffy and soft that you won’t be able to imagine your life without it after you try it. The perfect side to any Indian dish, or even enjoy it with some guacamole! YUM!
If you are a fan of coffee, especially caramel coffee drinks, then this Caramel Coffee Layer Cake was made for you. This cake itself is rich, moist, light, fluffy, and delicious! Plus, it’s super quick and easy to make; who says baking from scratch has to be a hassle? On top of being extraordinarily delicious and simple, this dessert has 4 gorgeous layers, an elegant caramel buttercream coating, and a chocolate drizzle.
These Rosemary Polenta Fries are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside — just the way it should be! Polenta is tossed with a touch of olive oil, rosemary, and chili flakes and then topped off with garlic oil. Serve these with your favorite dipping sauce.
Delicious and extremely moorish macarons with a filling of dairy-free white chocolate ganache. These White Chocolate Panda Bear Macarons are a simple to make and decorate, perfect quick & easy treat.
These Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomato Cups are the perfect finger food for a party or potluck. The crispy tortilla shells are filled with a cashew cream cheese and then finished off with sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, and chives. This recipe is fast, easy, and makes for some good eating with friends.
Be sure to check out Holly’s recipe page on our site, as well as her website! You can also find her recipes on our Food Monster App, which is available for both Android and iPhone, and can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. The app has more than 10,000 plant-based, allergy-friendly recipes, and subscribers gain access to new recipes every day. Check it out!
Lead Image Source: Unicorn Cheesecake
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Raw milk vending machines, such as this on in France, are popping up all over Europe. Photo courtesy of cernlove.org
by Dr. Mercola
Would you love to visit a grass fed family farm where you can fill up a glass bottle with farm-fresh raw milk from a vending machine explicitly made for this purpose? In the U.K., this is not at all unusual. In fact, raw milk vending machines are becoming increasingly popular, including the one recently installed at Home Farm, a dairy farm in Hassop, England.
In its first two weeks of operation, the farm owners say the machine has been a huge success and received “incredible” customer feedback. Known as the Simply Milk machine, it’s refilled every morning and provides fresh chilled milk from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
One liter of milk (about one-quarter gallon) costs £1.20 (about $1.54), providing a veritable bargain for consumers and an extra income source for the farm. Charlotte Dilks, who runs the farm with her parents and siblings, told Matlock Mercury news:1
“When you pasteurize milk to make it keep longer, the heat process kills a lot of the bacteria, which can be good for your health and gives it more flavor. People love the creamy, fresh taste of raw milk and keep coming back for more.
Children especially love the machine … People also like how they can see the herd in the field across the road and make the connection about where the milk comes from. When you buy a bottle of milk in the supermarket, it’s easy to forget about the cows.”
Raw milk vending machines provide a convenient outlet for residents to stock up on what is considered a healthy and wholesome food. Self-service machines may be found at farmers markets and small farms as well as in shopping centers and near schools and playgrounds. In addition to England, raw milk is available via vending machines in a number of countries, including:2
In a report written for A Campaign for Real Milk, licensed nutritionist Sylvia Onusic, Ph.D., noted upon her first encounter with a raw milk vending machine in Slovenia that “The major focus was on safety of the milk and maintenance of hygienic conditions before and after dispensing it.”3
After paying for the milk, the machine dispenses it into a container of choice (which can be purchased on-site or provided by the consumer). An ultraviolet light then sanitizes the surface. As for potential machine malfunctions, farmers are connected to the units via a real-time cellphone app, which sends out an alert if there’s a temperature change and even lets farmers check into the machine’s status at any time.
Inspectors are also given key cards so they can access the machines. According to Onusic, “There have been no confirmed reports of illness caused by the raw milk purchased at these machines from government officials or members of the public.” As of 2015, she reports, the raw milk vending machine market was $6.45 million in Europe alone, which is expected to climb to nearly $18 million by 2024.4
Onusic actually pondered bringing a raw milk vending machine to the U.S., but quickly realized such an idea wouldn’t fly, even in her home state of Pennsylvania, where raw milk sales are legal. She noted:5
“[T]he Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture strongly discouraged me from embarking on such an enterprise. A female veterinarian who worked at the Agriculture Department told me it would be a grueling bureaucratic process and said that they would never approve vending machines because there was no way to police them.
Even after I explained how farmers could track their machines via a special iPhone app and stated that inspectors could gain access to the machine at any time with an entry key, the idea seemed unfathomable to her.”
Ironically, while selling raw milk from a vending machine is considered virtually sacrilegious, farmers could, if they so desired, sell pasteurized milk and milk powder products from vending machines, including those packed with added sugars (not much different from vending machines selling soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages).
It’s not entirely surprising, considering raw milk is considered to be a public health enemy in the U.S., unlike in much of Europe, where it’s considered essential to such delicacies as traditional French cheese. Pennsylvania cheesemaker Sue Miller explained to Mother Nature Network:6
“There are all these great enzymes living in the milk when it’s raw that create flavor profiles. When milk is pasteurized, they get extinguished so you have to add cultures to accentuate the flavors of the milk …
I’d love for people to really try raw milk cheese. In Europe people don’t want pasteurized cheese. They know how good raw milk cheese is.”
Even the royal family demands raw milk. According to The Globe and Mail, “Queen Elizabeth drinks her milk raw. She reportedly thinks so highly of unpasteurized milk that, when her grandsons Princes William and Harry were students at Eton, she instructed herdsman Adrian Tomlinson to bottle up raw milk from her Windsor herd and deliver it to them at school.”7,8
High-quality raw milk comes from cows raised on pasture, not those raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), where milk can be produced in filthy conditions, then heated until all the pathogens are gone.
Never mind that, along with killing “germs,” pasteurization kills off beneficial organisms in the milk, including bacteria and enzymes, and prevents natural souring (while naturally soured milk can still be consumed, pasteurized milk past its prime will quickly go bad).9 Raw milk is smooth and creamy, with a flavor profile that matches the cows’ diet.
However, it isn’t flavor alone that keeps many people coming back for more — it’s the health benefits. Children who drink raw milk have a lower risk of developing allergies and asthma, for instance.10 And early human studies suggested raw milk was superior to pasteurized milk in protecting against infection, diarrhea, rickets, tooth decay and tuberculosis.11
Raw milk also contains protective components that aren’t found in pasteurized milk, including antibodies and beneficial bacteria that help to kill pathogens in the milk, as well as compounds that prevent pathogen absorption across the intestinal wall. There are a variety of immune-strengthening components in raw milk as well, including lymphocytes, immunoglobulins and growth factors.12
Raw milk is also a great source of fat-soluble vitamins, including A, D and K2. In fact, milk from cows raised primarily on pasture, which includes high-quality raw milk, has been shown to be higher in many nutrients, including vitamin E and beta-carotene and the healthy fats omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).13
This is a significant benefit, as CLA is associated with a lower risk of cancer and heart disease and optimized cholesterol levels. Meanwhile, raw milk, which has a naturally desirable thick texture, does not contain thickening agents that are found in many low-fat dairy products, nor is it subjected to homogenization, which pasteurized milk goes through to break down fat particles, oxidizing them in the process.
In stark contrast, while many Europeans are free to enjoy a glass of crisp raw milk anytime they like courtesy of self-serve vending machines, in North America selling raw milk is often forbidden. In Canada, for instance, it’s illegal to sell or give away raw milk, a law that’s enforced in many provinces.
In Ontario, distributing raw milk was long considered to be a regulatory offense punishable by fines, but as of January 2018 an order issued by Ontario’s Superior Court ruled that anyone who distributes or sells raw milk in the area can face years in prison.
Many raw milk enthusiasts believe the Ontario injunction violates their constitutional right to access raw milk and have, along with other raw milk co-op members, filed a motion to have the injunction stayed.
It’s a similar story in the U.S., where efforts continue to expand access to raw milk — the only food banned from interstate commerce — and, in so doing, protect people’s right to eat and drink what they please.
You might remember that at one time all milk was “raw,” as pasteurization did not yet exist. This 19th-century invention is touted as crucial in making milk safe, but what it’s actually done is allow for the proliferation of the “dirty dairy” industry, aka milk that comes from CAFOs.
In areas where it’s illegal to sell raw milk, those who want to enjoy raw milk products sometimes form a farm share, in which each member owns a piece of a cow and can therefore legally enjoy its milk.
In Canada, the government eradicated this loophole, however, and many raw milk farmers have been harassed, raided, fined and driven out of business as a result. One such farmer, Michael Ilgert of Ontario, had about 60 customers who purchased his raw milk regularly, a mix of people allergic to pasteurized milk (but who had no trouble drinking raw milk), immigrants used to drinking raw milk and those looking for organic and locally produced food.
Undercover inspectors purchased some raw milk from his farm, however, which ended up with him being charged with five crimes in 2017. Rather than risking jail time, he shut down his operation, pleaded guilty to three offenses and paid $1,500 in fines.
As noted by the Ottawa Citizen,
“There is no guarantee, he points out, that mass produced food is safer. He says more people have died from contaminated romaine lettuce than from raw milk in the past 45 years. ‘Why are we being targeted?’”14
It’s a serious double standard, too, since while dairy farmers can’t sell or distribute raw milk, they’re free to drink it themselves (and about 80 percent of dairy farmers do).15 Meanwhile, you’re far more likely to become ill from foodborne illness linked to other foods than you are from raw milk. According to Dr. Ted Beals, a retired physician and pathologist with a personal interest in dairy testing and safety of milk:16
“From the perspective of a national public health professional looking at an estimated total of 48 million foodborne illnesses each year; or from the perspective of a health care professional looking at a total of 90,771 … confirmed bacterial foodborne infections each year (about 0.2 percent) …
… [T]here is no rational justification to focus national attention on raw milk, which may be associated with an average of 42 illnesses maximum among the more than 9 million people (about 0.0005 percent) who have chosen to drink milk in its fresh unprocessed form.
Using this average of 42 illnesses per year, we can show, using government figures, that you are about 35,000 times more likely to become ill from other foods than you are from raw milk.”
Ultimately, the choice of what to eat should belong to the individual consumer, not the state or federal government. If government agencies are allowed to impose their view of “safe food” on consumers, and dictate what’s legal and what’s not, raw milk won’t be the only thing lost — one day virtually all food could be pasteurized, irradiated and/or genetically engineered.
Still, as with all foods, source matters, and this is just as true with raw milk as any other food. If you’re interested in raw milk, here are tips for finding high-quality raw milk sources:
Read the full article at Mercola.com.
Published on September 5, 2018
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There are some people who will never change, and God bless ’em. If they want to smoke cigarettes, go bungee jumping, it’s their body, their choice. But I think most people are just confused. They want to live long, healthy lives, want to take better care of their families, but are bombarded by billion dollar industries bent on sowing confusion in hopes people will just throw up their hands and eat whatever’s put in front of them. But the good news is that we have tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity—the vast majority of premature death and disability is preventable with a healthy enough diet and lifestyle. The science is in, but it’s being drowned out by commercial interests that may not have our family’s best interests at heart. I hope you consider me a partner in the struggle to get at the truth. Nearly 190,000 scientific papers on nutrition were published over the past year, about 500 a day. Please help us sift through all that science, so you… don’t have to!
Today is the start of our annual end-of-year fundraising drive. Year after year, more than half of our entire annual operating budget has been raised around these final few weeks of the year. So we count on your giving-season generosity to make a tax-deductible donation to keep NutritionFacts.org going and growing.
I may be the face of NutritionFacts.org, but there’s a veritable army of volunteers and a dozen staff behind the scenes. They help me churn through the thousands of studies a week to stay on top of the science, so we can bring you daily videos and articles on the latest in evidence-based nutrition. This is only possible because of you. Every year, thousands of people step forward and make donations large and small to express appreciation for our work. Hundreds have even signed up to be monthly donors, which helps ensure a predictable steady stream of support. Please “root” for the facts by helping us fill the carrot! It’s a numbers game; even a single dollar can help.
On the Donate Page you can make a tax-deductible donation using a credit card, Bitcoin, transferring stock, or by sending a check to “NutritionFacts.org” PO Box 11400, Takoma Park, MD 20913. (Federal employees may donate through the CFC workplace giving program with designation number 26461.)
“I am a Nutrition and Culinary Arts Instructor at a community college. I am also a Registered Dietitian, providing consults and demos for community members. I share NutritionFacts videos with my students and clients all the time, in presentations and to help answer questions on specific nutrition topics… When they ask me what to eat, my current favorite answer is what Dr. Greger shared with me, when I met him at a potluck, ‘Plants!’ Thank you, NutritionFacts.org I don’t know what I would do without you. I encourage everyone to donate to this hard-working organization that is transforming lives every day.”
-Elisabeth DeSwart, MS RD
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations:
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I love intermittent fasting to lower inflammation, increase ketosis, and enhance something called autophagy.
Autophagy is the process in which the body clears out any old or damaged cells that are not working properly in order to generate healthy cells. When diseases form in the body, it is not always a black-and-white situation—you're not completely healthy one day and have the disease the next day. Disease manifests in the body by developing in the weak, damaged cells and grows over time to also take over the stronger and newer cells. Autophagy protects against disease by removing any old cells that are more susceptible before a disease has the opportunity to form, making it an extremely important process to ensure continued health.
Along with fighting disease, autophagy can slow down the aging process. When old cells are cleaned out and new, healthy cells are being formed faster, you can continue to feel and look young. While many people deal with the physical pains of aging due to cell destruction, it really doesn't have to be this way. Boosting cell regeneration can keep muscles, joints, and bones healthy and strong. This also helps with the visible aging process as autophagy keeps skin rejuvenated and young.
The good news is that each person's autophagy process is not dictated solely by genetics and biology. It can actually be boosted to work more efficiently just through simple health decisions that are made on a daily basis.
Bergamot oil is one of the polyphenols that contain natural healing properties at cellular levels that increase and induce the autophagy process. These polyphenols are compounds found in plants that protect the plant from any damage. And as it protects the plant, when eaten it also protects our bodies by boosting our autophagy process. Including bergamot in your daily life will help clean out any damaged cells as well as promoting new cell growth.
Green tea, and black tea in smaller amounts, contains EGCG, which is another one of the polyphenols that specifically boosts autophagy and protects the ends of DNA against damage. There's one tea that combines all of the benefits of bergamot with all the benefits of tea: the beloved Earl Grey, found just about everywhere, including Starbucks. The theaflavins are present in black tea from the catechins transforming through oxidation making it full of powerful antioxidants. Black tea, and all teas, also contain antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral benefits. You could say the tea and bergamot combination of Earl Grey tea gives you a super bacterial and viral-fighting morning drink.
I sip on organic Earl Grey tea (make sure it has real bergamot and not just bergamot flavor) while I intermittent fast to enhance autophagy. If you don't have Earl Grey tea on hand, you can mix a drop or two of bergamot oil to black tea to create the same taste and benefits of the popular tea. Along with the tea, bergamot oil can be added to different kinds of food as well to add a citrus flavor to dips, desserts, and any other meal.
Delicious, age reversing, and readily available? If that's not a health trend to get behind, I don't know what is.
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I’ve spent many years researching and writing about gut health, but the truth is that so much of what we think we know about probiotics is just plain wrong based on current research. It’s definitely time to get some clarity! Kiran Krishnan is undisputedly ones of the world’s experts on this topic as a research microbiologist who has been involved in the dietary supplement and nutrition market for 17 years. He comes from a strict research background and has designed and conducted dozens of human clinical trials and human nutrition.
Currently, Kiran is the Acting Chief Scientific Officer at Positions Exclusive and Microbiome Labs and is involved in nine novel human clinical trials on probiotics and the human microbiome. There’s new research coming out every day but it isn’t always easy to understand for the layperson, so I’m so glad he’s here today to explain.
Did you enjoy this episode? What other questions do you have about gut health? Please drop a comment below or leave a review on iTunes to let us know. We value knowing what you think and this helps other moms find the podcast as well.
This episode is brought to you by Branch Basics. One of my favorite companies because they are tackling two major problems with one simple solution. We’ve all heard about the problems with single use plastic, and if you’ve read my blog, you know all the potential pitfalls of harsh household cleaners. Branch Basics helps on both fronts. They have the worlds safest non-toxic cleaning concentrate that is plant based, biodegradeable, non-GMO and not tested on animals. Since it is a concentrate, a single bottle lasts a really long time and cuts down on extra plastic bottles for other cleaners. It’s gentle enough to be used on skin, even on babies, but strong enough to clean floors, make an all purpose cleaner and even treat stains. Their bottles are all reusable or you can do what I do and mix everything in reusable glass bottles instead. And when I say it is good for everything, I mean it! I carry a travel size foamer pump when I travel for use as hand soap, face wash, shampoo, eye makeup remover and stain treatment, and use the same concentrate at home to make practically every cleaning product in my home. You may have seen on my IG how I used their cleaning concentrate and oxygen boost to wash my white couches naturally and I use Branch basics in some way every single day. Check it out and grab some at branchbasics.com/wellnessmama and save 15% on starter kits with the code Mama15.
This episode is brought to you by Alitura Naturals skincare. You guys loved the founder, Andy, when he came on this podcast to talk about his own skin healing journey after a tragic accident that caused massive scarring on his face. From this experience he developed some of the most potent and effective natural skin care options from serums to masks and the results are visible in his perfectly clear skin that is free of scars! I love the mask and use it a couple times a week, and often use the gold serum at night to nourish my skin while I sleep. All of their products have super clean ingredients and they really work! Andy is absolutely dedicated to creating the highest quality products possible and it shows. Check them out at alituranaturals.com/wellnessmama and use the Discount code “wellness” to get 20% off.
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