‘People are even eating raw testicles’: Tim Caulfield discusses raw foods trend

Tim Caulfield explains while raw foods are marketed as more natural and healthier, there is no scientific evidence to support these claims.

Health hacks are becoming a common trend online, and some say eating raw food is healthier. Tim Caulfield joined CTV Morning Live’s Kent Morrison to explain the myths and the science behind this trend.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Kent Morrison: We’re examining the real impact of some health hacks, and the idea that raw is better. We’re talking about things like raw milk. Can you explain what the fad is behind this and what the science is?

Tim Caulfield: Raw has become the new natural. It’s everywhere. There’s raw milk, raw water, raw pet food, and there are people eating raw testicles. It is a fascinating trend that’s not supported by any evidence. I think the cultural trend is that “raw” is kind of the new natural. It’s this idea that products haven’t been touched by the bureaucracies or the healthy aspects of it haven’t been taken out. But broadly speaking, we can say there is no evidence of benefit, and there’s lots of evidence of harm. The other fascinating thing with this whole “raw” trend is you do see this weird mixing of wellness, woo, natural language and sciencey language. For example, with “raw milk,” they’re always talking about “healthy microbiome” and “pasteurization” that takes out the healthy stuff. But the answer is no. No, it’s not healthier.

Kent: What can drinking “raw milk” do to you?

Tim: The reason they pasteurize is to kill harmful bacteria. There is no evidence that pasteurizing takes out the healthy nutrients and there’s lots of evidence that not pasteurizing, can do harm. I think one of the problems here is that we measure that harm at the population level. There might be some people who grew up in a rural setting, and drank “raw milk,” and they were fine with it. But the problem is, when you look at that at a population level, it can be really dangerous, especially for kids and pregnant women for example. It’s not a great trend. If you think of something like “raw water,” you could argue that clean water is maybe the greatest achievement of civilization. “Dirty water,” like “raw water,” will kill over three million people next year, right? It is an absolutely absurd trend, but I don’t think it’s going away.

Kent: Now, let’s talk about people feeding raw food to their pets. Is there risk there?

Tim: There is. This is another pet wellness trend. I think it feels more like it’s intuitively correct, because, “Hey, they’re pets, they’re animals, they’re designed to eat raw stuff.” So are we. We’re animals too. All the risks associated with being “raw” also endanger animals. In fact, they’ve found the bird flu in “raw” pet food. And of course, there’s salmonella, e-coli, all of those things have been found in “raw” pet food. It’s the same risks associated with your pets, and I’m a pet owner. I love them. We know those risks are there.