Let's Talk About Raw Milk: What the Science Actually Says

If you've spent any time on social media lately, you've probably noticed that everyone seems to have discovered the one thing we're apparently supposed to be eating, avoiding, drinking, or throwing out. Seed oils are toxic. Beef tallow is back. Protein fixes everything. And now, raw milk has become the latest wellness obsession.

If you're already trying to navigate hot flashes, sleep disruption, brain fog, and all the other changes that come with menopause, it's no wonder this gets confusing. When your body suddenly seems to be operating from a completely different owner's manual, you want answers. And when a wellness influencer with glowing skin holds up a glass jar of fresh milk from a farm that sounds straight out of a storybook, it's genuinely appealing.

So when raw milk started showing up in your feeds, promoted by celebrities, certain physicians with large social media followings, and yes, even mentioned favorably by our current Secretary of Health and Human Services, I figured it was time for us to have a real conversation. Not a scary one. Just an honest one. The kind we'd have sitting across from each other in my office.

First, What Are We Even Talking About?

Raw milk is simply milk that has not been pasteurized. Pasteurization, named after Louis Pasteur, is a process that heats milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time in order to kill harmful bacteria. It requires no additives, no chemicals, no preservatives. Just heat, applied for a controlled amount of time.

"But People Drank Raw Milk for Centuries"

They did. And milk-borne illness was widespread.

There is a deeply appealing image embedded in our culture of a farmer heading to the barn at dawn, bringing in fresh milk for the family, just like it was done for generations. Movies and TV have given us that picture hundreds of times, and it looks wholesome and right. What those stories rarely included were the illnesses or the children who didn't make it through the summer.

Before pasteurization became widespread in the early 20th century, raw milk was one of the most dangerous foods a family could consume. Milk-related disease outbreaks accounted for nearly 25 percent of all food- and water-borne outbreaks in the United States in 1938. The introduction of pasteurization laws, city by city and state by state, is considered one of the major public health interventions that contributed to dramatic reductions in infant mortality rates. Within a decade of mandatory pasteurization in New York City, infant mortality fell by more than two thirds.

Pasteurization largely eliminated milk as a vehicle for tuberculosis, typhoid fever, diphtheria, Q fever, and brucellosis, among others. These weren't rare edge cases. They were leading causes of death, and the milk supply was one of the main ways they moved through families and communities.

The romanticized image of the family farm is real and meaningful in a lot of ways. But it is also an image with the disease edited out. The desire to return to something that feels purer and less processed is understandable. The history just doesn't support the idea that the way things were done before was better for anyone's health.

Why Has Raw Milk Become So Popular?

This is worth understanding, because the messengers matter in how we receive information.

Celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and lifestyle influencers with millions of followers have spoken publicly about drinking raw milk and credited it with various benefits. Paul Saladino, MD, known as "Carnivore MD," has nearly 3 million Instagram followers and is a prominent advocate. Although trained as a physician, his views on nutrition differ substantially from the mainstream recommendations of nutrition, infectious disease, and public health experts. In May 2025, he sat down with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the White House, and the two were filmed drinking shots of raw milk together. I understand why that image reads as a kind of endorsement. But a compelling photograph is not the same as scientific validity.

The trend also has a strong political dimension, with some groups framing raw milk as a matter of personal freedom and skepticism of federal agencies. That framing is worth noting, because it positions distrust of public health guidance as a virtue. On this topic, that distrust is not well-founded.

What Does Your Grocery Store Milk Actually Go Through?

Most people have no idea how carefully protected the commercial milk supply already is. The answer is: very carefully, and by law.

The federal framework governing milk safety is called the Grade "A" Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, known as the PMO. It has been in place since 1924 and is revised every two years by a national conference of dairy industry representatives, government officials, and academics from all 50 states. The PMO is one of the main reasons milk-related disease outbreaks have fallen from nearly 25 percent of all food- and water-borne outbreaks in 1938 to less than 1 percent today.

Here is a simplified version of what your milk goes through before it reaches you.

Within two hours of milking, all milk must be cooled to 45 degrees Fahrenheit and refrigerated. When a tanker driver arrives at the farm, they take samples from the bulk tank for later testing. At the processing facility, every load is tested for antibiotic residues, and any load that tests positive is rejected entirely and removed from the food supply. Tankers are also tested for bacterial counts and for added water, which would be illegal adulteration. Then comes pasteurization, followed by additional inspections and testing by the FDA and state agencies. All of that is the minimum required. Many processors go further.

The milk in your refrigerator right now has been through more testing and inspection than almost any other food in your kitchen.

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