MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it will begin testing the nation's milk supply in an effort to better track bird flu. That's after the disease was detected in unpasteurized milk products on a California farm. The sale of raw milk is legal in most states, but there's a lot of misinformation about its health benefits and risks. President Trump's nominee for secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wants to reverse what he calls the, quote, "aggressive suppression," unquote, of raw milk. Our co-host, A Martínez, spoke with Katelyn Jetelina. She is a public health expert who writes the newsletter "Your Local Epidemiologist."
KATELYN JETELINA: People drink raw milk for many different reasons. Some is to support local farmers. Some report taste differences, that it's more creamy, for example, than pasteurized milk. And then, of course, there's a lot of common misconceptions about the health benefits.
A MARTÍNEZ, BYLINE: Now, is there any truth, then, to the claims? Because the people that do claim health raw milk benefits, they're very fervent about their claims.
JETELINA: Right. So what we've seen is that unpasteurized milk doesn't have more nutrients than pasteurized, right? We have a meta-analysis, which is about 40 separate studies pooled, that found only minor losses in some nutrients, like B1 and B6. But these nutrients are low in milk generally, and we get them from other dietary sources. Another common misconception is that raw milk is better for those who are lactose intolerant, and the evidence also doesn't show this.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, so then what are the risks of drinking raw milk?
JETELINA: There's a reason we have been pasteurizing milk for more than a hundred years. Before the pasteurization process, it's estimated that about 65,000 people died over 25 years due to contaminated dairy. And it's not just the immediate impact. These infections can actually have lingering consequences. So, for example, one type of bacteria can cause people to be paralyzed. Another type of E. coli can cause rare but serious disease that affects the kidneys and the blood clotting system. And so I think the bottom line is these risk-based choices are just - they're not always black and white. But drinking raw milk is like playing roulette with some really potentially serious risks, especially for children.
MARTÍNEZ: You're a data scientist, Katelyn. You're an epidemiologist. When these kinds of food trends happen, does it annoy you at all that you have to, like, tell people, OK, relax - some of these things you're hearing may not be true before you start trying something all kinds of different?
JETELINA: I think people have a lot of questions that they need answers to, and people need to be equipped with evidence-based information to make their own decisions. And I'm happy to be here to answer those questions.
MARTÍNEZ: Katelyn Jetelina is a public health expert. She writes a newsletter, "Your Local Epidemiologist." Thank you very much.
JETELINA: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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