From famine to surplus
You sometimes don’t always realise how deep we have come from, when it comes to food supply. It is so normal to walk into a supermarket 7 days/week and pick out what you want to eat. Over a century ago, …
Author: Ton Baars
Kefir – rediscovered!
Kefir, including the raw-milk variety, is on the rise. There is a revaluation of fermentation, as a measure to ‘work up’ foods: white cabbage becomes sauerkraut, black tea with sugar Kombucha and milk becomes kefir. Meanwhile, raw milk kefir from …
Image grass-fed milk
Take home message What is the deal with grass-fed milk? There are two aspects: the image of the sector and the health aspects for the cow (being outside, building vitamin D, grazing fresh grass) and for the consumer health due …
On-line video about dairy consumption
In Friesland a conference was organised by the Avalon foundation (12-14 Oct 2021), entitled: “Added value of the organic farmer, bioregions”. What is necessary for the development of resilient dairy consumption in future? In the on-line workshop, Ton Baars presented …
Raw milk and a healthy gut
Take home message Three recent studies suggest a positive effect on the intestinal flora from raw milk compared to pasteurised milk. This is found, among other things, in the volatile fatty acids that are formed in the intestine and the …
The fatter the better?
This statement applies at least to the intake of milk fat-bound substances, such as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. The University of Maastricht has measured the amounts of vitamin K1 and K2 in various cheeses consumed in …
Promote health or combat disease?
Care or cure? Treatment or resilience? The focus on either care or cure involves a fundamentally different view of health and health care. Tradition dating back to ancient China was that doctors were paid to keep the patient healthy. Naturally, …
Linear or exponential?
Take home message An explosion of bacteria or viruses is due to their exponential growth. Since the start-up phase is poorly perceived or underestimated by people, actions often lag behind the bacterial growth risks , and may result in consumers …
Grass based milk and Vitamin D3
Take home message Milk markers of grass-based systems, grazing and grass intake in cows are CLAc9t11 concentration, a low ratio of n6/n3 (around 1), a high vitamin D3 and phytanic acid concentration in milk fat and a low ratio of …
Heating milk (part 3): Growth of rats
The Swiss director Dr. Bernard Blanc of the Eidgenossische Forschungsanstalt für Milchwirtschaft in Bern-Liebefeld, was interested on the impact of milk heating on health. Elements of his findings were reported earlier. Together with R. Sieber, he published a study in …
