Discourse about ‘raw’ milk – that is, milk straight from the cow’s teet – has been splashed all over right-wing corners of the internet recently. From alpha male influencers who believe raw milk is a ‘superfood’, to tradwives like Ballerina Farm explaining how to filter and prepare raw milk, to high priestess of woo Gwyneth Paltrow advocating for adding raw cream to your morning coffee, there’s been a noticeable uptick in interest in unpasteurised milk over the past year. Data indicates that sales of raw milk increased 20 to 65 per cent in the last year alone.

Raw milk isn’t just being promoted by a handful of influencers and celebrities either: conservative US politicians have also jumped on the bandwagon. Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a photo of raw milk on Instagram back in October, captioned “Make America Healthy Again!”, while newly appointed health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has previously claimed to drink raw milk and criticised the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its “aggressive suppression” of products such as raw milk.

At present, the FDA mandates that all milk intended for human consumption must be pasteurised, which involves heating milk to a high enough temperature to kill potentially harmful microorganisms. It’s a pretty sensible requirement. “Illness from unpasteurised milk was a substantial public health issue that was significantly reduced when pasteurisation became more widespread in the 1920s,”  explains Dr Mindy Haar, registered dietitian nutritionist and assistant dean at New York Institute of Technology.

Given that drinking pasteurised milk is evidently far safer than drinking unpasteurised milk, it’s natural to wonder why some are suggesting that we go back to drinking it raw. Many of raw milk’s biggest supporters argue that it has myriad health benefits: some claim it boosts testosterone production; some believe it contains more “vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats” than pasteurised milk; some believe it’s a better option for people with lactose intolerance.

But most of these claims are easily rubbished. No legitimate research has suggested raw milk can impact testosterone levels (plus, if your testosterone levels are healthy, there’s no need to try to ‘boost’ them anyway); pasteurising milk does not result in a significant loss of vitamins, carbs, minerals, or fats; and one study found no differences in digestive symptoms in people with lactose intolerance after consuming both raw and pasteurized milk.

Dr James Fitzgerald is associate professor of security studies at Dublin City University and an expert on “post-truth” politics and disinformation. He describes the recent raw milk trend as “an artefact of contemporary counter-culture on the right” which chimes with conservatives’ growing interest in wellness culture, alternative science, autonomy over one’s body, and resistance against government mandates. “It is a manifestation, ultimately, of mistrust in the government, and gives a sense of autonomy and power to the individual who is willing to go against the grain,” he explains.

“Many now understand the dangers of ultra-processed foods. Some then extend the desire to eat a less processed diet to consuming unpasteurized dairy products and don’t realise that this is a very different issue”

It also tallies well with the right’s nostalgic longing for so-called ‘simpler times’, back when men weren’t effeminised by drinking soy milk (which has actually been drunk for hundreds of years), before the state started telling people what they could and couldn’t consume (read: making efforts to protect public health). With this in mind, it’s unsurprising that so many tradwives – who want nothing more than to return to the mythical halcyon days of ‘the past’ – are big fans of raw milk too.

It’s also likely that interest in raw milk is mounting in tandem with growing awareness of the detrimental effects of ultra-processed foods on our health, with some raw milk advocates erroneously conflating the practice of pasteurising milk to make it safe for consumption and, say, adding loads of sugar and preservatives to food. “Many now understand the dangers of ultra-processed foods,” Dr Haar explains. “Some then extend the desire to eat a less processed diet to consuming unpasteurised dairy products and don’t realise that this is a very different issue.”

“Neither the left or right has a monopoly on these sorts of narratives, which sometimes turn into conspiracies,” Dr Fitzgerald adds. “For example, the recently deceased Morgan Sperlock’s documentary Supersize Me was very much an artefact of left-leaning criticisms of ultra-processed foods. But these types of interventions open up critical spaces for being aware of ultra-processed foods and the industry that pushes it. Those on the right can also enter into these spaces and so, with their focus on autonomy, the ills of (Democrat) government intervention and counterculture can enter.”

It’s worth reiterating that drinking raw milk can seriously jeopardise your health. “There is overwhelming consensus in the scientific community that consumers should choose pasteurised dairy products,” Dr Haar stresses. Without being pasteurised, she explains that “milk may become contaminated with levels of bacteria or viruses that are high enough to cause disease in those who drink it. As pasteurisation kills these harmful components, the chances of becoming ill if the milk was contaminated is greatly decreased.”

She adds that drinking raw milk can cause “nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and fatigue and in more serious cases, damage to the kidney and brain and possibly death,” and that “those whose immunity may be compromised, children, those who are pregnant, and those over 65” are most at risk from picking up a foodborne illness after drinking raw milk. She stresses that influencers and politicians who advocate for drinking raw milk are “misguided”, especially as bird flu has recently been found in some batches of raw milk for sale in California.

Despite the obvious health risks of consuming raw milk, it’s probable that conservative influencers and politicians will keep shilling it. “As in most cases of conspiracy narratives online that can be tied to the far-right: money is there to be made,” Dr Fitzgerald surmises. “The contemporary wellness industry is massive and there are huge sums of money to be made. I think many on the right, especially, have spotted this opportunity and are willing to push it through to increasingly weary audiences – especially in the US.”