In a study involving 15,000 children in five countries, researchers from USA and Europe found that drinking farm milk can protect children from asthma and allergies, reports EurekAlert.

Lower levels of diagnosed asthma were also observed for all farm-produced dairy products, and eating farm eggs also provided protection against hayfever. However, these foods did not provided increased protection in isolation – only when the children also drank unpasteurised farm milk.

‘All the children drinking unpasteurised farm milk and eating other farm-related dairy products showed the same level of protection against asthma and allergies, regardless of whether they were living on a farm or not’ says lead author Marco Waser, a doctor in natural sciences from the Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine at the University of Basel, Switzerland.

‘This is an important finding as it rules out other protective factors that farm life may provide, such as exposure to microbial compounds in animal sheds and farm homes. For example, earlier studies have shown that farm children are less likely to be affected by pollen.

‘Our research showed that the children who enjoyed the best protection from asthma and allergies had been drinking farm milk since their first year of life.’

About half of the parents who told researchers that their child regularly drank farm milk said that they did not boil the milk before giving it to them; the protective results were the same, regardless of whether milk was boiled or not.

‘The results of this study indicate that all children drinking farm milk have a lower chance of developing asthma and hayfever’ says Dr Waser. ‘However raw milk may contain pathogens such as salmonella or enterohaemorrhagic E coli and its consumption may have serious health risks.

‘We need to develop a deeper understanding of why farm milk offers children this higher level or protection and investigate ways of making the product safer, while retaining these protective qualities.

‘At the moment we can only speculate about why farm milk protects children against asthma and allergies. Perhaps it is because farm milk NSW has different levels or compositions of pathogenic and non-pathogenic microbes to milk sold in shops.

‘It is interesting that there was no difference in the farm milk results regardless of whether it was boiled before consumption. As boiling is likely to have been over-reported, this could indicate that pasteurisation is not as important as previously thought, as compounds other than microbes may offer a protective role.

‘But despite our findings, we cannot recommend consumption of raw farm milk as a preventative measure against asthma and allergies.’