Wondering if goat milk is good for you?
Get the scoop here with Jessica Bell of Split Creek Farm in Anderson, SC….
NUTRITION
- Goat milk has about 1% less lactose than cow’s milk. So if you are truly lactose intolerant, it won’t be a good fit. But it might be for a lot of other reasons…
- Casein allergies can mimic lactose-intolerance and produce similar symptoms. Goat milk has less A1 casein than cow milk. So you might be better able to digest goat milk than cow’s milk for this reason.
- Goat milk has more medium-chain fatty acids, which are quick sources of energy.
- The fat globules in goat milk are smaller than in cow’s milk, which eliminates the processing step of homogenization. The smaller fat globules are also believed to contribute to easier digestibility.
- Goat’s milk is high in oligosaccharides, which are prebiotics that feed the good bacteria in your digestive tract.
- For the nitty gritty nutritional profile details see: Goat v Cow Dairy
ENVIRONMENT
- 10-12 goats can live on about the same acreage as 1 cow/calf pair.
- Goats are browsers instead of grazers; this means they prefer to eat from shrubs, trees, and bushes instead of the ground. The landscape of a goat farm needs to be more diverse in plantlife than a cow dairy farm.
- Even though one goat produces less milk than one cow, the overall balance of milk production is higher per acre from goat farms.
- Just like in cow dairies, there is a wide variety of types of farms, which impacts not only the health of the goats but the health of the milk. As always, find out where your food comes from and buy local with minimal processing!
PS: Love learning about healthy food choices? I’d love to help you in Five Star Eating!
Love cheese, but not cow’s milk doesn’t agree with you? Here are 9 cheeses that are typically not made from cow’s milk.
Some cow’s milk is A1 and some is A2, and that’s a whole ‘nother story you can investigate here.
Sources:
Influence of pasture on fatty acid profile of goat milk.
J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 2008 Jun;92(3):405-10. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0396.2008.00824.x.
D’Urso S1, Cutrignelli MI, Calabrò S, Bovera F, Tudisco R, Piccolo V, Infascelli F.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18477324/
Fatty acid profile of milk – A review Article in Bulletin- Veterinary Institute in Pulawy · June 2013
DOI: 10.2478/bvip-2013-0026
MARIA MARKIEWICZ-KĘSZYCKA, GRAŻYNA CZYŻAK-RUNOWSKA1 , PAULINA LIPIŃSKA, AND JACEK WÓJTOWSKI
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259495733
Goat milk can be considered as functional food, Spanish researchers find
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110518092146.htm
Comparison between Holstein cow’s milk and Japanese-Saanen goat’s milk in fatty acid composition, lipid digestibility and protein profile.
Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2006 Nov;70(11):2771-4. Epub 2006 Nov 7.
Tomotake H1, Okuyama R, Katagiri M, Fuzita M, Yamato M, Ota F.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17090948
Systematic Review of the Gastrointestinal Effects of A1 Compared with A2 β-Casein.
Adv Nutr. 2017 Sep 15;8(5):739-748. doi: 10.3945/an.116.013953. Print 2017 Sep.
Brooke-Taylor S1, Dwyer K2, Woodford K3, Kost N4.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28916574
International Dairy Journal
Volume 16, Issue 2, February 2006, Pages 173-181
Goats’ milk as a natural source of lactose-derived oligosaccharides: Isolation by membrane technology