Q. I find fresh goat milk easier to digest than cow’s milk and surprisingly tasty. Is it really better for me?
A. In many parts of the world, goat’s milk is much preferred over cow’s milk. In America, about 10 million cows produce 60 million tons of milk annually, but worldwide there are more than 440 million goats producing about 5 million tons of milk per year. Only about a million of these are in the U.S.
Nutritionally, goat milk is similar to cow milk, and most of what differences there are seem to favor goat milk. Goat milk has higher amounts of vitamin A than cow milk because goats convert all carotenes into vitamin A, which is why their milk is whiter than cow milk. Goat milk is richer in riboflavin, biotin, and niacin, but folic acid, vitamin B6, and B12 are higher in cow milk. The levels of vitamin C and D are low for both kinds of milk, except that in the U.S. milk is fortified with vitamin D. Goat milk is slightly lower in lactose, though not enough to make it safe for a person who is lactose intolerant. Some minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, chlorine, and manganese are higher in goat milk, but it is lower in others such as sodium, iron, sulfur, zinc, and molybdenum.
Goat milk has the reputation of being safe for people who are allergic to cow milk, but this is not always true. More than half of infants who test allergic to cow milk, which is about 2% of children under the age of 1 year, also test allergic to goat milk. There is still no consensus on exactly which factors in cow milk contribute most to its allergic properties, but casein is often blamed, and goat milk does have lower levels of casein.
It is noticeably easier to find low-fat and nonfat cow milk than goat milk. This is because goat milk is “naturally homogenized.” Not only does it have smaller fat globules, but it also lacks the protein that makes fat globules stick together and float. As a result the fat globules in goat milk do not cluster together, which makes it easier to digest. The composition of the fat is also different. Goat milk fat normally has about twice the medium chain fatty acids (MCTs) of cow milk. MCTs have generated considerable interest because of their unique benefits for people with a variety of diseases.
Though adults may digest goat milk easier, neither cow nor goat milk should be fed to infants less than 6 months of age without modification. Both contain too much protein, more than 3% compared to 1.3% for human milk, which can overload a baby’s immature kidneys. Human milk contains one-third more carbohydrates than cow and goat milk, so both must be diluted by about half and have some sort of carbohydrate added. Folic acid should be added to goat milk when it is used in an infant formula since by itself goat milk supplies only about 10% of what a baby needs.
A new reason to consider goat milk in place of cow milk has recently emerged. It turns out that the powerful hormone called Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 from cows (but not from goats) is identical to that made by humans. A high level of this hormone is linked to increased cancer risk.
Goats have played a role in food culture since time immemorial, and while in the United States we may think of goat milk as an alternative to cow milk, in most areas of the world the opposite is true.
This article appears in October 22 • 2004.