Commercial Milk - Germophobes Mustn't Click This Link

Let me start by saying I have little to no experience with microbiology. My knowledge of commercial milk is limited to how it tastes and whatever it claims on the label.

But I own a microscope.

I was curious to see what a drop of fresh milk from the refrigerator looked like on a microscopic level. Here's what I saw:



Got milk?

Good. You keep it. "Probiotic" or not, I'm too grossed-out to drink the stuff anymore.

reply to post by traditionaldrummer

I've been trying to think of good reasons to give up dairy. I love it. But you may have just done the trick.

If you think about it, why would humans need to drink the milk of another species? As adults?

*Sigh*

Being lactose tolerant is a genetic fluke, anyway.

Okay. Sold.

Yuck gross and yuck.


I only drink chocolate milk but kinda after seeing this, I'm not really going to drink much of it any longer. Maybe Soy milk instead. Nothing like that would be in soy milk I'd HOPE.


Course humans are the ONLY living being in the world that drinks milk from another animal far into adult hood.

Cow milk feeds baby cows til they ween forever never to drink milk again.
Horses, same.
Dogs, cats, etc., same.
And then there's us.
Humans feed baby humans human breast milk SOME times and ween them - to a LIFE of drinking COW milk.
Humans feed baby humans synthetically created formula then ween them - to a LIFE of drinking COW milk.

Anyone else see what's wrong here?

you think thats bad? google 'e numbers' and 'project alimantarius', some of those unlabled colours that go in food, those yellow looking chips are NOT natural in the slightest, if you have the balls by all means find out whats really in your food, cause its BAD.

Ugh, I've ALWAYS hated milk. Now, this just gives me even more of a reason to not drink the white devil. Thanks for the post!

reply to post by sarra1833


Chocolate milk and all flavoured milks are coloured and flavoured for a reason.

Just so ya know...

Originally posted by JustSlowlyBackAway
reply to post by traditionaldrummer

 

I've been trying to think of good reasons to give up dairy. I love it. But you may have just done the trick.

Apparently it's safe to consume though, as my wife drank some of it even after viewing this video. Her health is fine. I couldn't think of drinking it though.

I had assumed the layman's lore that pasteurization "kills the bacteria". But as I said before, I have an extremely limited understanding of microbiology. Oh well, ya' learn something new every day.

BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Come on germophobes.

Not liking milk is one thing. But not liking it because of the "bugs" in it is ridiculous. There is microbial life all around us. Take that microscope out and start taking samples out of your bed mattress and look at the wildlife there. I mean if you are going to live in fear of a few "bugs" then you got to fear them all. Besides, what do we have an immune system for.

reply to post by traditionaldrummer


Heck, do that to everything you ingest. If looking at these things grosses you out to the point of never using them again, you be losing weight in no time.

Of course, you'll also end up in the hospital as well, or worse, you'll starve to death.

I think that we need those nasty little critters in our body from time to time as it makes our immune sysetm that much stronger.

I really fancy keeping a couple of Nigerian dwarf goats to provide milk for the family. Please don't show me any microscopic shots of it though.

Originally posted by Skewed
BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Come on germophobes.

Not liking milk is one thing. But not liking it because of the "bugs" in it is ridiculous. There is microbial life all around us. Take that microscope out and start taking samples out of your bed mattress and look at the wildlife there. I mean if you are going to live in fear of a few "bugs" then you got to fear them all. Besides, what do we have an immune system for.

I'm not germophobic, I assure you. I have sampled various mattresses (and the lore surrounding mites is exaggerated), even feline fecal samples. So far, the milk has the most microbial activity I've seen. And though this is "safe" bacteria I just can't drink it even though it is, as you say, "ridiculous". Oh well.

reply to post by traditionaldrummer


slightly off-topic, but I hope you will forgive me.
I hope you enjoy using your microscope

from the looks of it you used a "toy microscope"? If so, just remember that your 40x objective (giving you 400x) magnification, will actually provide sharper images than the 100x objective. To use the 100x objective, you need an oil-immersion objective, and microscope oil between the cover-plate and the objective, as well as between the condensor and the slide. You might also find it interesting to play around with dark-field microscopy

to give you even more enjoyment of your microscope, there are several web-sites for the amateur microscopist, that will open a whole new world for you.

I can especially recommend the following site :
www.microscopy-uk.org.uk...

reply to post by traditionaldrummer


Have you checked out all the flora in your intestines.
Now talk about giving you the heeby jeebies.

I do not know, I just grew up eating a lot of dirt in my childhood.
Maybe that is why I never get sick and for the most part I welcome those little critters.

reply to post by traditionaldrummer


another interesting thing about the bacteria in milk, is that it is actually a probiotic. It has been shown that people who ingest too few bacteria, i.e. sterilize everything, are more prone to their immune system going haywire, because we have co-evolved with bacteria. That alone is worth a thread on its own

Probiotics are live microorganisms thought to be beneficial to the host organism. According to the currently adopted definition by FAO/WHO, probiotics are: "Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host".[1] Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria are the most common types of microbes used as probiotics; but certain yeasts and bacilli may also be helpful. Probiotics are commonly consumed as part of fermented foods with specially added active live cultures; such as in yogurt, soy yogurt, or as dietary supplements.

en.wikipedia.org...

Cant beat a nice cold glass of the white stuff

Regards to all

Originally posted by Hellhound604
from the looks of it you used a "toy microscope"? If so, just remember that your 40x objective (giving you 400x) magnification, will actually provide sharper images than the 100x objective. To use the 100x objective, you need an oil-immersion objective, and microscope oil between the cover-plate and the objective, as well as between the condensor and the slide. You might also find it interesting to play around with dark-field microscopy

Thanks! It's not a "toy microscope", but it is a very basic compound biological monocular scope. Indeed, lower power renders clearer imagery - though microbes at lower powers are difficult to discern. Also, the footage was obtained by sticking a digital camera into the reticle. Not exactly the best conditions for science, but enough to get a notion of microbial activity in common substances. Thanks for that link!

Originally posted by Skewed
reply to post by traditionaldrummer

 

Have you checked out all the flora in your intestines.

No, because for one I don't want to acquire the sample, and two, I'd have to observe it with my nose above the slide.

However, common dental bacteria is easy to get (floss first thing in the morning) and quite visibly large. None of that which I've seen so far has as much bacterial activity as the milk though.

If you think that's gross, you should get a tooth pick and pick between your girlfriend or your boyfriend's teeth. Then look under a microscope. You'll never kiss another human being. When you blow up things using a microscope, you'll notice that there are living things everywhere. Why do you think we have gastric acid?

Originally posted by traditionaldrummer

Originally posted by Skewed
reply to post by traditionaldrummer

 

Have you checked out all the flora in your intestines.

No, because for one I don't want to acquire the sample, and two, I'd have to observe it with my nose above the slide.

However, common dental bacteria is easy to get (floss first thing in the morning) and quite visibly large. None of that which I've seen so far has as much bacterial activity as the milk though.

Well I guess you are one of the 10% that actually floss. Imagine the other 90%. Gross...

reply to post by traditionaldrummer


if you want higher definition, you can also investigate the same technique that amateur astronomers use nowadays, by taking a movie, and stacking the images from the video to give you a single image (works best for non-moving subjects).

I use this software for both astronomy and microscopy :
www.astronomie.be...

and great open-source software for microscopy (can also do image stacking, but not as nice as registax)
www.macbiophotonics.ca... and
rsb.info.nih.gov...