RFQM: Devil In The Milk 3

For today's Real Food Quote Monday (RFQM), we're still talking about the book, “Devil in the Milk” by Keith Woodford. I quoted from this book last week and the week before, too.

I'm still talking about this for two reasons, First, I received this question by email:

I have been looking around my area for raw milk, and the only thing I seem to be able to find is raw milk from Holsteins. I read your post on milk the other day, so I know this isn't the ideal. But, is it better than not drinking milk at all?

And then Kara asked in a comment whether she should switch from organic, raw Holstein milk to goat's milk where the goats are fed some grain and not a fully organic diet and. The point being: the Holstein has a fantastic diet but offers (probably) A1 milk, while the goat's diet is not organic (though still pretty good, in my opinion) but produces A2 milk.

I was pretty strong in my declaration in the first post on this topic:

“Our choice is clear. My family would rather go without milk (and have done until last year) than consume milk from an A1 cow, nor would we choose any processed (pasteurized, homogenized, or non-pastured) milk products. Of course this assumes that we are able to make the choice. Our choice might be different if we were starving.”

I stand by this; we'd still choose this. I think. 😉 But I know that there are milk choices people face (evidenced by the questions) that are less life-threatening and more of the every day sort. What advice should be given then?

For that advice, I'll turn to the latest Wise Traditions, which is the quarterly publication of the Weston A. Price Foundation. It  arrived in the mail last Friday. This journal is not online yet.

“Susan” wrote a letter to the editor and asked if her family should switch to goat milk. They couldn't be sure their raw cow's milk (from a Jersey) was A2. She wondered if the Jersey cow might not be offering A1 milk due to modern breeding. In response to that person’s question, here’s what the editor said. I think it is good advice if you're not in a position to choose A2 milk.

“Raw whole milk from pasture-fed cows is safe and wholesome for most people. The significance of the A2 findings is that it may explain why some people do not do well even on this kind of milk – and why some people do better on goat milk. We are not suggesting that farmers and consumers worry about whether their milk is A2 or A1. What we are suggesting is that those who have trouble with raw cow’s milk, seek out and try A2 milk, or switch to goat milk. We also suggest that pure A2 milk may be the answer for those with very serious conditions like autism. We predict that over the years, A2 milk will become more and more available, perhaps eventually the only type of milk available. But this transformation will be gradual and will take a long time. Meanwhile, we don’t want farmers to worry about their current herd, nor consumers to worry about the milk they’re drinking if it agrees with them.”

What do you think? Do think that's good advice or not? What advice would you give the two readers?