These influencers, RFK Jr. can't get enough of raw milk. But what about bird flu?

An unquenchable thirst has taken over the internet.

Raw milk can't be sold for consumption in as many as 20 states, but influencers, moms and even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can't get enough of it — despite warnings from healthcare professionals and food scientists that it poses a plethora of health risks. Raw milk can contain high levels of bacteria, including listeria and a strain of E. coli that can cause kidney failure and death, while milk sold in stores goes through the pasteurization process to kill pathogens that cause disease.

Last year, a new virus was added to the list of concerns: bird flu (H5N1). As of November 2024, bird flu had spread to 505 herds of dairy cows in 15 states since March, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That rate has since grown exponentially, with the current tally at 957 total cases in 16 states. In January, the first human death from bird flu in the United States was reported in Louisiana.

Yet, raw milk drinkers remain unbothered. In June 2024, Kennedy said he "only drinks raw milk." Social media influencers have also promoted the trend to millions of followers, including Hannah Neeleman, the queen of trad wives better known as Ballerina Farm.

Among those content creators is Courtney Luna, author of "Carnivore in the Kitchen" and stay-at-home mom of two children.

In recent years, Luna’s trust in doctors and science has faltered. Kennedy's campaign to "Make America Healthy Again," she says, was a much-needed wake-up call for Americans to take charge of their health. Luna shares the details of her carnivore diet to over 200,000 followers, even posting videos drinking milk straight from the udder. But while Make America Healthy Again resonated with a large portion of voters who are worried about what’s going into their food, dairy researcher and food scientist John A. Lucey — who grew up drinking raw milk on his family's farm in Ireland — says that raw milk offers no health benefits over the safer alternative, pasteurized milk.

More: RFK Jr., vaccines, food dyes, fluoride and why ‘Make America Healthy Again' took off

What is raw milk?

Raw milk is milk that has not gone through the pasteurization process, which is a key food safety step that applies heat in order to kill microorganisms that can cause disease, according to Meghan Davis, DVM, MPH, PhD, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Among raw milk advocates, it is a popular belief that the pasteurization process destroys bioactives, which are chemicals found in plants and certain foods that promote good health and are being studied as preventatives for cancer, heart disease and other diseases — therefore, pasteurized milk would rob consumers of potential health benefits. But according to registered dietitian Jamie Nadeau, the nutritional changes that happen after pasteurization are “extremely minimal.”

There are also misconceptions that the bacteria content in raw milk is good for your gut, but those ideas are "far-fetched," Nadeau adds. Any potential beneficial bacteria present in raw milk, Lucey explains, are found at such low levels that they are not a significant factor for human health. Pasteurized milk still retains important nutritious components, like calcium and protein, he adds.

Lucey says studies that have observed correlations between raw milk with lower rates of asthma and allergies have been "hijacked" by raw milk advocates, as none of the studies actually promote drinking raw milk — many state ethical concerns due to the likelihood of pathogens.

Nadeau says there’s no way to guarantee raw milk is safe, even if you get it from a farm you trust or have purchased milk from before. Some of the harmful pathogens found in raw milk, she adds, can also cause serious life-threatening diseases like Guillain-Barré syndrome and hemolytic uremic syndrome.

"I put it in the same class as raw meat," Lucey says. "Would I take it straight from the shop and eat it raw, or would I cook it to some temperature and make sure I've killed pathogens that could be present in it?"

Lucey adds that the pasteurization process is a "very gentle heating" and not boiling or sterilizing. "Why is that a big deal?" he asks.

Nadeau recommends opting for foods like yogurt, kefir, kombucha or a probiotic supplement instead if you're trying to incorporate more gut-healthy items to your diet.

Bird flu won’t deter some raw milk drinkers

Lucey grew up on a small dairy farm in Ireland drinking milk from the farm's bulk tank, produced by its own cows. But when he was around 7 or 8 years old, his mom was warned by a doctor that raw milk had pathogens, and she began boiling milk for the kids.

"So I know what raw milk is," he says. "We did consume raw milk, but we changed."

But to Luna, the theoretical benefits outweigh the risks. She purchases her milk from Raw Farm USA, a company that she says tests their products for E. coli and listeria before distribution.

"Consumers don’t trust the FDA," Mark McAfee, the CEO and founder of Raw Farm USA, wrote in an email to USA TODAY. "They find that raw milk speaks for itself in their own gut experience."

According to McAffee, Raw Farm USA's sales are growing at about 1.5% per week year over year. He says the farm has two full-time microbiologists who test every batch of raw milk and provide data in 20 hours. But in December, California public health officials announced a voluntary recall by Raw Farm LLC after detecting bird flu in the company's milk and dairy products at both retail and dairy storage and bottling sites.

McAfee called the voluntary recall an overreaction. “That’s because this is just the latest convenient platform to attack legal raw milk in California!” he stated.

But Lucey says the risk of bird flu in raw milk should be cause for concern. Bird flu is highly pathogenic. When cows get infected with bird flu, the highest level of the virus is concentrated in the mammary gland. Lucey compares it to COVID-19 in humans — while our highest viral loads were in salvia and mucus, cows' milk would be full of the virus.

Raw milk is just the tip of the iceberg

Luna is pleased that Kennedy is bringing awareness to her concerns, and raw milk is just the cusp.

“If they cared about our health, then why wouldn’t they make cigarettes illegal? Or why wouldn’t our foods be free of dyes?” Luna adds. “I think they don’t want us to be healthy. They want to keep us sick and sell us the cure to it.”

“I'm glad that he's doing what he's doing,” Luna says. “I think we have a long road ahead of us, but I think people are starting to be aware that what they're eating matters.”

Lucey, however, is also a "big fan for fresh food" and encourages people to support their local farmers, but has a final message for raw milk drinkers: It's not worth the risk.

"A lot of people just don't trust science anymore," Lucey says. "But I don't even think this is science, I think a lot of it is common sense. This is not making milk into an ultra-processed food. This is just heating it to 160 degrees for 15 seconds."

Contributing: Hannah Yasharoff, Eduardo Cuevas

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Raw milk, RFK Jr., influencer moms and the truth about safety