Advocates of raw milk consumption claim that pasteurization reduces milk’s nutritional value and removes health benefits, despite lack of scientific support for the vast majority of these claims. At the same time, experts agree that forgoing pasteurization carries unnecessary health risks.

Wellness influencers online claim that raw milk is healthier and safer than the usual pasteurized kind. Here's what health experts say.

Most people just buy their milk at the grocery store, where they can (currently) be assured that their milk has been pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria like e. coli and salmonella, all according to Food and Drug Administration standards.

Raw milk has become a common rallying point for right-wing media and wellness influencers — and a cause that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could supercharge as President-elect Trump's Health and Human Services secretary nominee.