Free Real Food by Nina Planck Page B

form. When cabbage becomes kimchi, the result
     is more vitamin C, enzymes, and good bacteria. Fermented foods like sauerkraut, cheese, and yogurt are among the oldest and
     most nutritious processed foods. Yogurt is widely associated with longevity.
    Traditional cultured milks are not only digestible but also nutritious. According to Harold McGee, beneficial bacteria found
     in "traditional, spontaneously fermented milks" take up residence in our guts and promote health all over the body. The bacteria
     secrete antibacterial agents, enhance immunity, break down cholesterol, and reduce carcinogens. The bacteria added to industrial
     yogurt don't necessarily do the same good work. They're specialized to grow in milk only and can't survive inside the body.
     Moreover, industrial yogurt may contain only two or three selected microbes, while the traditional version may sport a dozen
     or more friendly bacteria. "This biological narrowing may affect flavor, consistency, and health value," writes McGee.
    Cultured foods are vitally important in traditional diets. In many cultures, yogurt is the only form of milk consumed. When
     versatile milk is transformed into yogurt and cheese, people all over the world can eat dairy foods— and given how practical,
     delicious, and nutritious milk is, most do.
    Milk is also rich in cholesterol and saturated fat. Does that mean the shepherds and dairy farmers who drink whole milk daily
     have high cholesterol and heart disease?
    Milk, Butter, Cholesterol, and Heart Disease
    LET'S RECALL THE GIST of the cholesterol theory of heart disease: eating cholesterol and saturated fat raises blood cholesterol
     and clogs arteries. If so, the milk critics have a case, because milk is rich in cholesterol and saturated fat. Milk is 87
     percent water; the rest is protein, fat, and lactose. An eight-ounce (250 ml) glass of whole milk (typically 3.5 percent fat)
     contains about 9 grams of fat, most of it saturated— about 66 percent. About 30 percent is monounsaturated, and there's a bit of polyunsaturated fat, too. The typical glass also contains
     about 35 milligrams of cholesterol, mostly in the fat. (By the way, I never count grams of fat, cholesterol, protein, or anything
     else— nor do I recommend it— but I offer these figures for complete information.)
    This nutritional profile has been enough to indict milk on charges of causing heart disease, but abundant evidence exonerates
     real milk, butter, and cheese. Many traditional diets include whole milk and butter without adverse effects. In Swiss dairy
     and Masai shepherd communities, Weston Price found people eating whole milk, cream, and butter to be in excellent health.
     In the 1960s, long after Price studied the Masai diet, Professor George Mann went to Kenya to test the hypothesis that a diet
     rich in saturated fat and cholesterol raises blood cholesterol. 12 The Masai are almost pure carnivores, eating mostly milk, blood, and meat. A Masai man drinks up to a gallon of whole milk
     daily, and on top of that he might also eat a lot of meat containing still more saturated fat and cholesterol. Mann expected
     the Masai to have high blood cholesterol but was surprised to find it was among the lowest ever measured, about 50 percent
     lower than that of the average American.
    Like the Swiss and Masai diets, the traditional American diet was once rich in whole milk, cream, butter, and meat. At the
     turn of the last century we ate plenty of butter and other saturated fats. The Baptist Ladies Cookbook (1895) and The Boston Cooking School Cookbook (1896) include recipes for creamed liver, lamb fried in lard, creamed fish, and oyster pie with a quart of cream and a dozen
     egg yolks. About 40 percent of the calories in these menus come from fats, with slightly more saturated than unsaturated fats.
     An English Jewish cookbook in 1846 is similar, but it calls for beef fat instead of lard. These menus would be unremarkable—
     after all, everyone's