A Glass of Immunity
I saw the impact of IgG before I knew what it was. My daughter had a gluten reaction. She broke out in eczema skin rash when she was under a year old after eating gluten. We cut gluten out of her diet, but the rash never fully went away. Though she was breastfeeding still, we introduced raw milk to her after she turned one. With the raw milk consumption, her rash was completely gone.
Fast forward to this year, I also had some cross contamination of gluten at a restaurant. Within a week, I had an outbreak of dermatitis on my arm. I was going through a SIBO protocol so I had cut out drinking raw milk to reduce probiotics in my diet. The rash would not go away. Then I remembered my daughter’s similar situation with her rash. So I threw caution to the wind (as far as my SIBO was concerned) and made sure I drank a full 16 ounce glass of milk daily. Within a week, the dermatitis was better. In about 2 weeks it was gone. If I didn’t love raw milk before this, I became an even bigger believer after this.
I talked to my functional medicine doctor about it. He said that it was likely the IgG in raw milk.
What is IgG? It’s short for Immunoglobulin G. IgG is an antibody. Antibodies are proteins that fights against foreign invaders (antigens) in the body. Antibodies bind to antigens in the body so that the body can flush them out. IgG has four subcategories and is the the most abundant type of antibody in our bodies. They help our immune systems by fighting off pathogens.
While we internally produce IgG, some people who have persisting infections may have an IgG deficiency. There are tests to find out if you have a deficiency. We also are overwhelmed with toxins, viruses, and pathogens in our daily life. One could speculate that we may need a bit of a boost in IgG to overcome the toxin load we are exposed to. The antigen may also prove helpful if you’re exposed to something your body doesn’t handle well, as in my and my daughter’s case with gluten.
Bovine milk and colostrum is a great source of IgG. The reason it has high concentrations of IgG is because calves are born without immunoglobulins. Unlike humans who get immunoglobulins in the womb from the placenta, cattle get their immunoglobulins via secretion in the mammary glands. Colostrum is rich in immunoglobulins to give immunity to vulnerable calves. While it does contain IgA and IgM (other types of immunoglobulins), IgG is the most prevalent antibody in cow’s milk and colostrum. While colostrum has the highest concentration of IgG, there is still a good amount in mature milk.
Bovine milk is such a good source of IgG that there has even been experiments with “immune milk.” In essence, immune milk is milk from a cow who was exposed to certain diseases or bacteria. When the cow was exposed to the disease or pathogen, she began to produce milk that gave immunity to the consumers of her milk. Studies showed that it helped people suffering with things like AIDS, E. coli, dental carries, parasites, avian flu, and more when the was exposed to the specific strain of illness or disease. Exposure may be done via vaccination or other form. From my understanding, it is not legal to intentionally expose a cow to a disease to use her milk for a treatment of said disease.
If you look up the FDA’s commentary on raw milk, it will state that it is dangerous and you can still get IgG from pasteurized milk. While low temp pasteurization can still have IgG in it, heat treatment of milk over 160 degrees Fahrenheit will greatly reduce IgG. Most milk in the store is ultra pasteurized or high temp pasteurized. Therefore, it can be assumed that much of the IgG in store pasteurized milk is destroyed. Raw milk is a much more reliable source of IgG as there is no heat treatment to destroy the immunoglobulins.
While colostrum is the most rich source of IgG, we at MarGro Farms do feel the need to prioritize the calf. Being born without any immunity, it is essential that our new calves get an abundance of colostrum. There is also a concern with unwanted bacteria in colostrum. A fresh cow who has just calved is more vulnerable to higher than our standard of bacteria and somatic cell (white blood cells that may be present to fight infection) counts. Calf manure is often higher in E. coli therefore exposing mom to E. coli. While as we saw above in the immune milk paragraph that exposure to E. coli may provide milk that has immunity to E. coli, we also want to be cautious that only immunity is in the milk, not the bacteria it’s self. Therefore, we do save the colostrum of a mother cow for her calf.
As evidenced in my own families lives and through studies, milk is a powerhouse for boosting the immune system. Whether someone has an IgG deficiency or is just overwhelmed by toxins and pathogens, raw milk can be a benefit to one’s daily routine. Immunoglobulins can help us get rid of the antigens in our bodies that are wreaking havoc on our heath. Let’s raise our glasses (of raw milk) to a delicious route to better health!
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