The ideal food for infants is human milk. However, due to certain reasons, some infants do not have access to breast milk. As a greater understanding of the nutritional requirements of infants developed, various alternative infant feeding preparations were manufactured from the late 19th century. However, until the 20th century, there was virtually no safe and reliable alternative to breastfeeding. Most present-day infant formulas in the US market are adaptations of the product designed by H.J. Gerstenberger and co-workers in 1915.
Goat milk modification for infant feeding is still a very new area and has not been achieved in most parts of the world due to the relative differences between goat's milk and cow's milk, as well as differences between these to human milk.
Literature has shown that goat milk adapted for infant feeding might be a suitable substitution for cow milk formulas due to the higher tolerance of goat milk by infants who are allergic to cow milk proteins. The higher protein and non-protein nitrogen and phosphate in goat milk produce a greater buffering capacity than cow milk. Furthermore, many infants allergenic reactions to cow milk, stem from the excess mucus production of this milk, unlike in goat milk.
Some physico-chemical properties of goat milk such as smaller fat globules, higher percentage of short and medium chain fatty acids, and softer curd formation of its proteins are advantageous for higher digestibility and healthy lipid metabolism.
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10 comments:
Raw and unmodified goat milk should not be fed to infants.
What differentiates goat milk proteins from cow milk proteins. Is it the alpa-S1 or aplha-S2 proteins? I forget which.
I believe goat milk contains more of the alpha-s2 proteins than the alpha-s1. Human milk is completely devoid of the alpha-s1 protein. So, goat milk is closer to human milk in this regard.
I don't know much about infant allergies to animal milk, but the protein beta-lactoglobulin appears to be the major cause of infant milk allergies.
Why is the sale of raw goat milk illegal in the US? Does it have something to do with microbial safety and health hazards?
Yes. Raw milk contains microorganisms that may cause health hazards and food safety issues. The ban on sale of raw milk does not apply to goat milk alone, but for cow milk and other ruminant milk meant for human consumption.
Goat milk is supposed to be good for you, but why does it taste and smell the way it does? It has a flavor that is very different from cow milk. Is there a reason for that?
Betty-Dean, goat milk fat contains some short-chain fatty acids especially C10:0 (caproic acid) that are responsible for the "goaty flavor" for the milk.
I fed my 3 month premature infant goats milk for most of the first year and a half of her life. We purchase the RAW goat's milk from a local farmer and mixed it with carrot and celery juices that we fresh squeezed to increase the nutritional value. She EXCELLED in her health. Slept through the night and awoke very active every day. She did not get her first "cold" untill she was almost two years old. I would suggest it to ANYONE both for their baby and themselves. Taste? You get a taste difference between whole and skim cow's milk that some can't accept. You just have to want to change. The size of the molecules make it tolerable to humans and it is naturally homoginized because of it. Milk for an animal that will grow to 2000 lbs or more or milk for an animal that maxes out at 50 lbs? Makes sense huh?
Sure makes sense Michael. My kid had intolerance to cows milk and we switched to goats milk. My wife would pasteurize it and feed it to him. The illness cleared up very quickly and the rashes on his skin disappeared.
Goat milk certainly does have some therapeutic values. Its what they feed to infants in most parts of Africa and the kids are doing just fine.
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