Probiotics Is Big Business

Advocates Say Products With Good Bacteria Aids Digestion

(CBS)  Mark McAfee is a milkman on a mission: To introduce the world to the benefits of raw milk that comes from cows, CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes reports.

"It's Mother Nature's original probiotic food," says McAfee of Organic Pastures. "You don't appreciate what you're losing when you send it off to be processed."

From his small organic farm outside Fresno, McAfee is spearheading a revolution in "probiotics," the good bacteria, or living organisms, found in unprocessed foods.

"They call it bovine wine," McAfee says.

Our gastrointestinal tract is home to trillions of bacteria, both good and bad. Probiotic products add more "good" bacteria. Advocates claim they can aid digestion, alleviate irritable bowel syndrome and even banish allergies.

The idea of eating bacteria to stay healthy hasn't always been an easy sell. But after six years of hyping the benefits of probtiotics, McAfee's dairy can't keep up with their orders.

Activia, a probiotic yogurt, has gone mainstream by making claims that in just two weeks it will "regulate" your system. In just one year, sales have surpassed $100 million.

Grocers like Whole Foods are jumping on the bandwagon, designating entire sections of their store for probiotics.

"It is popular beyond belief and getting more and more so every day," a Whole Foods executive says.

An independent study did find some benefit for certain intestinal problems.

However, "Don't expect miracles. Don't expect to see a big difference within 14 days, as one manufacturer claims," says David Schardt, a nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

But do expect to pay more. In some case, it could be three times more and expect a shorter shelf life since many products are unprocessed.

"It's the way Mother Nature designed it. It is hard for some people to digest that thought," McAfee says.

But more and more people have swallowed his probiotic idea whole.

[jimerman-2009]

How typically cynical and ignorant! This report is biased, uninformed, and shallow, although it does bring up an important point. My family has seen tremendous benefits from switching to real milk 4 years ago, and consuming probiotic foods, coupled with staying away from doctors and their drugs they experiment with in an attempt to alleviate your ills. Our kids have gone from about 2 sick visits a month, to 1 or 2 a year. Our non-milk-tolerant boys have been able to tolerate cultured real milk products, and our daughter went from a 1 pound gain in 18 months at age 7, to normal growth, and definitely no thanks to processed, dead foods and doctor's drugs. Talk to me if you want the truth - I can point you to many resources and scientific studies.

[jimerman-2009]

How typically cynical and ignorant! This report is biased, uninformed, and shallow, although it does bring up an important point. My family has seen tremendous benefits from switching to real milk 4 years ago, and consuming probiotic foods, coupled with staying away from doctors and their drugs they experiment with in an attempt to alleviate your ills. Our kids have gone from about 2 sick visits a month, to 1 or 2 a year. Our non-milk-tolerant boys have been able to tolerate cultured real milk products, and our daughter went from a 1 pound gain in 18 months at age 7, to normal growth, and definitely no thanks to processed, dead foods and doctor's drugs. Talk to me if you want the truth - I can point you to many resources and scientific studies.

[rray52]

It is not stated in the story, but I assume that as the milk retains it%u2019s beneficial bacteria they are talking about milk that has not been pasteurized. Un-pasteurized milk contains bacteria that is beneficial in some cases, but it may contain some rather nasty bacteria also. If they are talking about un-pasteurized milk I am surprised they didn%u2019t mention the negative effects of wide spread distribution, given the resent cases of illness due to bacteria contaminated food.

[carefree6]

My entire family suffered with severe seasonal allergies until we repaired our digestion by eating lots of probiotics including raw milk - or as we like to call it REAL milk! My family, including two elementary age children, rarely gets sick and has not needed medication since we changed our diet from processed foods to whole foods, grown and produced naturally as our creator intended. Mark McAfee has done an amazing job educating the public about the benefits of raw milk, but as he will tell you, the milk must come from animals raised on pasture. There is a huge difference in the quality and safety of milk between confinement feed lot operations and grass based farms. Cows were not meant to eat grains - it makes their digestive tracks acidic causing illness and a shorter life span. Because their immune systems are so compromised they are more likely to pass bad bacteria along in their milk; this milk must be pasteurized because it is not safe! But when cows are kept on a diet of only grasses they produce healthy milk, full of probiotics and much lower overall bacteria counts. Raw milk from such animals will have all the enzymes intact as well which also aids our digestive track. Today's society is always looking for the quick fix, and I agree with your expert who says "don't expect to see results in just 14 days." Healing your digestive track with live foods takes time but is so worth the effort! See realmilk.com for more information.

[robbaum-2009]

Raw Milk is not generally commercially available in the United State except in states like California, Connecticut and New Mexico. The issues today is we have blue laws in many states that do not allow the sale of Raw milk. Here is a great product limited by old out dated laws restricting it availibility.

The sales of raw milk on the farm and retail could help our family farms survive. The farmer only get 1/3 of the retail sales for pasturized milk.

Some states allow sales of Raw milk at the farm but do not allow the farmer to advertize, what happened to free speech in the USA states like Vermont and New Hampshire.

The laws need to be changed in the USA to allow any person who want to purchase raw milk can. There are processes and testing that can assure that raw milk is safe. We are allowed to purchase raw fish, fruits and vegetables why not milk? The milk producers do not want to to know that pasturiezed milk is not as healthly as raw and deny this truth. They are trying to protect thier monoply on the product so they benifit not the farmer.

Sincerely

Rob Baum

[grammaekf]

If Americans are allowed to smoke, drink, and make other dangerous lifestyle choices, why can't we drink organic raw milk? More people get sick from produce in the grocery store than EVER get sick from drinking organic raw milk. And more people get sick from drinking pasteurized milk than from drinking raw organic milk from an organic dairy farm (the key word is organic). Choosing organic is the best choice; our bodies were designed to digest whole foods, such as raw milk, not chemicals. Grocery store food is dead and full of chemicals. No wonder there is so much disease in this country.

[freetorun]

While I appreciate CBS giving air time to Mr. McAfee, and to the idea of raw milk, the whole story comes across very negative.
My question is, what are governmental agencies and and those in the media so afraid of when it comes to raw milk? There are at least thousands more cases of food borne illnesses that come from pasteurized milk, than those that come from raw, or "real" milk.

Also, there are countless processed food products on store shelves that are much more detrimental to our health than raw milk.

And another question is, why is it so horrible to trust the American people to choose what they want to eat or drink? Our government is telling us that we aren't intelligent enough to decide what is good for us, and what is not.

What an insult!

[denmcb]

I want real milk !! But having trouble making connections. I tried Realmilk.com. I live just outside of Fredericksburg VA - A NO raw milk state. Anyone with a grass fed dairy cow co-op in my area?? Our foods are killing us. Just read The Whole Soy Story and Going Against The Grain. I can hardly find just pasturized whole milk anymore. Even the organic is ultrapasturized!!
HELP !!!!

[littlesweety-2009]

By the way, has anyone ever forgotten how sick they got while traveling to a foreign country and vowed to never go back? Most of us who have taken that relaxing Mexican vacation have gotten sick from a variety of things like food. Good bacteria in your intestines (probiotics) is one way to avoid that illness or keep it from ruining your vacation. A good shelf-stable probiotic supplement will take care of what ails you and yes you can get the same effects from real milk as with a supplement. A good probiotic will also help those who take antibiotics and get constipated.