I always justified spending twice as much for organic milk because of what’s not in it -  no hormones, no antibiotics.

But then I learned something disturbing.  There’s something we want in it,that’s not there- bacteria.  Most organic milk has had 100% of the beneficial bacteria eliminated with the collateral damage being nutritional degradation.

It’s called ultra high temperature pasteurization (“UP”).  Milk is heated at such high temperatures-over 300 degrees, 2x the temperature of basic pasteurization- that 100% of bacteria (including the good kind) is killed. Basic pasteurization is required by law in most states, UP is not.

Why is this done?  No living bacteria means milk can be shipped long distances and then sit in a warehouse or grocer’s shelf for months without spoiling.  You’ve likely noticed that some organic milk has a best-before-date that’s far later than other cartons, and you’ve assumed that means “fresher”. All this extended date tells you is that it’s UP milk and is therefore less fresh (or certainly less alive) than the organic milk with a shorter life expectancy.

So what exactly is the downside of UP milk?

1. For starters, a later date on the carton is not the date when the milk will go bad once you open it (ie once air-born bacteria enters), it’s simply the date when it would go bad if it were un-opened, though you might get an extra 10 days with opened UP vs non-UP.

2. UP kills all the bacteria and that’s not a good thing.  The good bacteria found in milk is vital to keeping your digestive track healthy; it’s why yogurt (with live cultures) is so good for digestive health.

3. The UP process compromises the proteins and enzymes. At very high heat, the protein structure is changed meaning that the body absorbs less of the protein in UP milk. The enzyme lactase which helps your digest the lactose in milk appears to also be compromised.

4. Flavor is more bland (while some say it tastes “burned”).

So you want to buy organic but you don’t want UP?  You can!  But it requires good eyesight. Manufactures must note on the carton if the  milk is UP, but it will not be prominent.  Look for the words “ultra pasteurized”, “UP” or “UHT”, and don’t assume that if you bought a brand that was not UP that it will always not be – some brands sell both, depending on the geographic market and grocer’s demands. Here’s a snapshot of a few brands:

Stonyfield: all are UP
Organic Valley: all are UP
Whole Foods 365 Organic: UP and non-UP (read label)
Horizon: UP and non-UP (read label)
Natural By Nature: all are non-UP

If in doubt, head straight to a farmer’s market and buy your milk from a responsible, bacteria-loving farmer. (My personal favorite in NYC, RonnyBrook,who pasteurizes at very low temperatures and allow their cows to graze in pastures.  You can now get their products at WholeFoods.)

Any favorite brands? What’s your personal experience been with UP and non-UP milk? Any raw-milkies out there want to chime in?

Photo: Deliciously bacteria-rich milk from Ronnybrook Farm.  Copyright © Michelle Madden

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The reason the whole economic world almost imploded two years ago was that Americans had racked up absolutely massive debts--the highest as a percentage of GDP in history, by a mile.

This 30-year borrowing binge, which began in earnest in the early 1980s, fueled the impressive economic growth of the 1990s and 2000s, and it helped push asset prices (stocks and houses) to staggering highs.

(It's amazing how your standard of living can improve when someone gives you a credit card and keeps lending you more and more money to pay off your balances, no matter how much you borrow.)

But then, somewhere in 2007, there came a day that consumers and businesses just couldn't borrow any more, and asset prices collapsed, taking the economy down with them.

Since that day, the government has been doing everything it can to encourage American consumers to start right on borrowing again, to go back to the happy free-spending days of the early 2000s and get the economy humming. But consumers, thankfully, appear to have learned their lesson (and if they haven't, lenders have).

Instead of just going back to borrowing and spending, consumers have begun to work off their debts. In so doing, they are gradually rebuilding their "household balance sheets," a process that will eventually give the country and economy a much more solid foundation.

As the following charts from Asha Bangalore at Northern Trust illustrate, in the past two years, household borrowing has seen its biggest drop ever as a percentage of GDP. 

Of course, as the charts also make clear, this "deleveraging" process has a long way to go. (And governments--federal, state, and local--are picking up most of the borrowing slack).

What consumers spend on debt repayment, they can't spend on stuff.  So if this deleveraging continues--which it must, if consumers are ever to return to a normal level of indebtedness--the repayment process will keep a lid on consumer spending for the foreseeable future.

Here's Asha:

The soft trajectory of consumer spending and continued reduction in residential investment expenditures reflects the sharp reduction in household debt.  Outstanding home mortgages have dropped from $10.606 trillion in the first quarter of 2008 to $10.126 trillion in the second quarter of 2010 (see Chart 1).  Household credit card debt has fallen roughly $157 billion from the peak in the third quarter of 2008 to $2.41 trillion (see Chart 1).

Image: Northern Trust

Total outstanding household debt as a percentage of GDP has fallen roughly six percentage points between 2009:Q1 and 2010:Q2 (see Chart 2).  This decline is the largest on record in the post-war period.  The drop of household debt as a percent of GDP in the early 1980s (48.95% in 1980:Q2 vs. 46.65% in 1981:Q3) was significant but smaller than the current occurrence and it was the result of credit controls imposed in the inflation battle of that period.  The lifting of credit controls led to a sharp reversal in the mid 1980s (see Chart 2).  The root cause of the current deleveraging is an entirely different story where severely indebted households are cutting back on borrowing to finance expenditures.

Image: Northern Trust

Asha also takes a look at the level of overall private-sector debt (households and businesses), which has also fallen in the past two years. Like household debt, total private sector debt is still extremely high relative to the average of the past 60 years.

i'm for debt reduction, but hopefully, we don't become like japan. they can't get ppl to spend anymore.