Raw milk has many health benefits, including being good for your skin

Question

According to the beauty site, Be Beautiful, milk, particularly unpasteurized, is good for your skin, making it "healthy and glowing." It says you can even use raw milk to make DIY face masks, cleansers, toners, and more. It's supposed to reduce acne and wrinkles. This site has a lot of other articles about beauty, as well as op-eds about personal stories related to beauty/hygiene. I've heard raw milk is bad to consume, but it is good to have on your skin?

Comments

Raw milk contains lactic acid, which can act as a gentle exfoliant and improve skin texture.However, dermatologists caution against using raw milk due to the risk of bacterial contamination like E. coli, Listeria, etc. The American Academy of Dermatology does not endorse raw milk for skincare due to potential health risks. This claim is partially false. While pasteurized milk may have some mild skincare benefits, using raw milk is risky due to the potential for bacterial infections.

Answer 1

https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/dangers-raw-milk-unpasteurized-milk-can-pose-serious-health-risk

The FDA considers the consumption of raw milk to be unsafe due to the possibility of it carrying germs such as E.Coli and Listeria that are taken out through the process of pasteurization. While the article you linked is focusing on the use of raw milk as a beauty product, the writer, Sanya Hamdani, is not titled as being a licensed dermatologist. There also is not data or studies used in this article to articulate that the raw milk has real benefits other than what the author is saying it does for skin.

I also find it interesting that in the FDA's report of raw milk consumption, the nutrition of the milk is unchanged and only the harmful bacteria is removed from the milk. In this case, pasteurized milk would have the same value to using on your skin without the harmful bacteria.

Comments

This is a great, in-depth fact check. Looking into the author's background is always a great place to start and I find it interesting that the author isn't even a licensed dermatologist. I also find it interesting that the nutrition of the milk doesn't change, it just becomes more safe for consumption once pasteurized, it makes me wonder what the motivation behind this article was in the first place.

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This is a really good fact check. Comparing the authors/sources of the website is really useful, especially when you find out that this person isn't even qualified to be making these sort of claims. From what I understand, there is no difference between using pasteurized or unpasteurized milk on your skin, I wonder if the person who wrote this article is getting sponsored by unpasteurized milk sources?

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This is a good in-depth fact-check. It's good that you noted the author's lack of licensing as well as the lack of change in pasteurized milk. This adds much more to your fact-check along with the FDA noted dangers.

Answer 2

While there is shown physical and mental benefits that come from the nutritional intake of milk, the consumption of raw milk is not always beneficial for one's health. To fact check this, there is an article that examines the other aspect of raw milk consumption-- showing that there are harms that come with the benefits. 

An article by the UC Berkeley addressed that majority of individuals have many side effects when it comes to digesting milk, and there are sometimes challenges when consuming lactose (the sugars in milk). 

reference: https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evo-news/got-lactase/

So while the benefits are addressed, it fails to mention the transparency of how raw milk could also come with downsides as well. 

Answer 3

There is limited evidence on the benefits of raw milk for skin health, though it is deemed unsafe for consumption and general use. Raw milk contains many pathogens and is identified as the source of many foodborne illness outbreaks. In an article from the National Library of Medicine, they state, "US statistics for dairy-associated outbreaks of human disease during the period 1993–2006 have been reviewed. There were 121 dairy product outbreaks where the pasteurization status was known; among these, 73 (60%) involved raw milk products and resulted in 1571 reported cases, 202 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths. A total of 55 (75%) outbreaks occurred in the 21 states that permitted the sale of raw milk." Along with this, the National Library of Medicine also points out, "  During pasteurization, there is no significant change in the nutritional quality of milk. Pasteurization does not cause any change in protein quality...Pasteurization does not cause any change in the concentrations of minerals." As aforementioned there's limited evidence to support the health benefits of raw milk on skin that follows the evidence supporting the opposite statement. In this case, since pasteurization helps to remove pathogens while not changing the state of the milk, it would be safer to use pasteurized milk than raw milk.  

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4890836/