Shire Labs is a research initiative to investigate how food affects health
Although a lot of money is spent on scientific research, there remain many open questions in nutrition and natural health.
At Shire, we believe that quality food has the potential to improve the health of people and the environment.
But formal research on these issues is often biased by corporate interests.
So we decided to investigate them ourselves.
Some of the most important discoveries in physics, chemistry, and biology have been made by “citizen scientists” outside of major academic institutions.
Although most studies are run in expensive labs, they’re not strictly necessary for doing good research.
Some of the most important scientific findings have actually occurred outside such institutions.
“Crowd-sourced science” is a good example.
While not as rigorous as clinical trials, such studies can provide more useful insights than the personal anecdotes that often suffice as evidence in the alternative health space.
These experiments can be conducted at a fraction of the cost, and can prompt more costly but rigorous followup research.
Our first study will investigate the effects of raw milk on women’s health
People are typically told to avoid dairy, but many women have reported significant improvements from drinking raw, unprocessed milk.
Most health research is conducted on men anyway, so this is a perfect opportunity to measure how drinking raw milk for 60 days affects female-specific health metrics
Why drink raw milk?
Some benefits that have been attributed to it include:
Better skin health (due to retinol/vitamin A content)
Better hormone regulation, improving energy and mood
Better reproductive health, including increased breast size and more regular cycles
Better digestive health, due to natural probiotics
The purpose of this study is to evaluate just how strong and reliable of an effect raw milk really has which, if corroborated, could have a huge impact on the health of women everywhere.
See what some women have experienced after drinking raw milk:
Who can join?
You are a woman over the age of 18
You don’t have any major health conditions (e.g. cancer)
You are interested in trying raw milk, but have not yet consistently started drinking it
You have a reliable source for it
You’re not planning any major lifestyle changes for the next 60 days
What is required?
Drink raw milk consistently every day for 60 days
Measure and record certain health parameters at days 0, 30, and 60 (will take less than 1 hour each time)
Avoid introducing significant variables that could confound the results (e.g. starting/stopping birth control, moving to a new climate, etc.)
Why participate?
You have been considering a raw milk regimen for a while, and want an excuse to stick to it
There are aspects of your health and body size/shape that you’re still trying to optimize, despite trying different things
You are passionate about improving your health and helping other women improve theirs
You’d like to contribute to a world in which there is more certainty about what health techniques actually work
How does it work?
Women involved in the study will drink raw milk every day for 60 days, recording how certain health metrics change over that time
Over the course of the next 4-6 months we will collect the reports from the participants
We will analyze the data to see which health metrics improved, and how significantly
We will then publish our findings so that other women have better data to support their health choices
