Modified : Tue, September 18, 2007 at 19:34
Comparing goat milk to cow milk
Hi there. I am interested in this topic because my wife and I are both mildly lactose intolerant and we are pregnant. We are worried about our child's allergies and I've been doing some reading about alternatives, especially goat milk. We found this amazing product, Laloo's Goat Milk Ice Cream, that does not cause the typical cow milk reaction in our body.
I'm not a doctor, but I have done a lot of research on this issue. Read below if you are interested...
Not all milk has the same effects on the body. Of course when you compare one milk to another milk, the results will be somewhat similar. But there are some differences that need to be highlighted - mainly the digestability factor for lactose intolerant people:
* 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.
*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.
*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.
*Goat's milk contains only trace amounts of an allergenic casein protein, alpha-S1, found in cow's milk.
*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.