Features and Benefits:
- Great for children
- Great for elderly people
- Chewable tablets
- Mild taste
What does goat's milk give you that cow's milk doesn't? In many parts of the
world, goat's milk is preferred to cow's milk. Even in the United States, the
goat is gaining popularity. Goats eat less and occupy less grazing space than
cows, and in some families the backyard goat supplies milk for family needs.
Goat's milk is believed to be more easily digestible and less allergenic than
cow's milk. Does it deserve this reputation? Let's disassemble goat's milk,
nutrient-by-nutrient, to see how it compares with cow's milk.
Different fat. Goat's milk contains around ten grams of fat
per eight ounces compared to 8 to 9 grams in whole cow's milk, and it's much
easier to find lowfat and non-fat varieties of cow's milk than it is to purchase
lowfat goat's milk. Unlike cow's milk, goat's milk does not contain agglutinin.
As a result, the fat globules in goat's milk do not cluster together, making
them easier to digest. Like cow's milk, goat's milk is low in essential fatty
acids, because goats also have EFA-destroying bacteria in their ruminant
stomachs. Yet, goat milk is reported to contain more of the essential fatty
acids linoleic and arachnodonic acids, in addition to a higher proportion of
short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids. These are easier for intestinal
enzymes to digest.
Different protein. Goat milk protein forms a softer curd
(the term given to the protein clumps that are formed by the action of your
stomach acid on the protein), which makes the protein more easily and rapidly
digestible. Theoretically, this more rapid transit through the stomach could be
an advantage to infants and children who regurgitate cow's milk easily. Goat's
milk may also have advantages when it comes to allergies. Goat's milk contains
only trace amounts of an allergenic casein protein, alpha-S1, found in cow's
milk. Goat's milk casein is more similar to human milk, yet cow's milk and
goat's milk contain similar levels of the other allergenic protein, beta
lactoglobulin. Scientific studies have not found a decreased incidence of
allergy with goat's milk, but here is another situation where mothers'
observations and scientific studies are at odds with one another. Some mothers
are certain that their child tolerates goat's milk better than cow's milk, and
mothers are more sensitive to children's reactions than scientific studies.
Less lactose. Goat's milk contains slightly lower levels of
lactose (4.1 percent versus 4.7 percent in cow's milk), which may be a small
advantage in lactose-intolerant persons.
Different minerals. Although the mineral content of goat's
milk and cow's milk is generally similar, goat's milk contains 13 percent more
calcium, 25 percent more vitamin B-6, 47 percent more vitamin A, 134 percent
more potassium, and three times more niacin. It is also four times higher in
copper. Goat's milk also contains 27 percent more of the antioxidant selenium
than cow's milk. Cow's milk contains five times as much vitamin B-12 as goat's
milk and ten times as much folic acid (12 mcg. in cow's milk versus 1 mcg. for
goat's milk per eight ounces with an RDA of 75-100 mcg. for children). The fact
that goat's milk contains less than ten percent of the amount of folic acid
contained in cow's milk means that it must be supplemented with folic acid in
order to be adequate as a formula or milk substitute for infants and toddlers,
and popular brands of goat's milk may advertise "supplemented with folic acid"
on the carton. |
