Is Goat Milk Safe to Drink? All You Need to Know

ABSTRACT

Milk is considered as the essential element of our balanced and nutritious diet, it is said to be the first food for every living being. Some goats are specially nurtured for milk production. Goat milk is seen as more special in the United States; it is consumed by sixty percent of the population in the whole world. Goats are important milk producers in India, goat milk is the milk of domestic goats. Goat milk is rich in protein, calcium, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium and is also an excellent source of Vitamin A. As we all know vitamin A is very essential in to reduce the risk of having cataracts, glaucoma, some certain types of cancers, and also helps in relieving measles and mumps in children. Goats produce about 2% of the world’s total annual milk supply, and it is considered that the goat’s are easy to keep as compared to cows or buffalo in developing countries. Moreover, in some cases, people said to take the goat milk over the cow milk. In this article we are going to discuss the Goat milk that is safe to drink and it does not cause any lactose allergy and its various health benefits.

INTRODUCTION

Goat milk is heavier and thicker than cow milk or any plant based milks, and it consists of various health benefits like easier to digest, milk allergies that are caused due to the lactose or have better health concerns. Goat milk has a lower percentage of lactose than cow’s milk, which makes it favourable for those people who are suffering from lactose intolerance. This is considered as a more powerful prebiotic which helps the body to nourish the intestinal bacteria living in the gut. This milk contains various bioactive ingredients that might be beneficial for long term illnesses. It consists of more calcium than other milk and is also a rich source of phosphorus and zinc that helps to increase body mass. As it is also rich in potassium which helps to stabilise the blood pressure and normal heart functioning. It is named as the choice for the health conscious people due to its beneficial properties or is easy to digest.

Importance Of Goat Milk

Goat milk’s properties are different from the human milk or cow or buffalo milk properties, its composition and deposition is different. Various bioactive compounds and oligosaccharides that are present in goat’s milk have different properties or are more powerful immuno modulators, and do not allow the bad bacteria to lodge into the intestine.

Ayurvedic texts have described the properties of various type of milk with their medicinal properties –

• Usually goat milk consists of sweet rasa and astringent rasa, spirited, cool in potency, increases the immuno-modulatory action on the body, snigdh in nature, pacifies vata and pitta dosha and is very easy to digest.
• This is beneficial in blood related disorders, and helps to maintain the strength of flora in intestine, it is a very adaptogenic in nature, is effectively indicated in various types of conditions like kapha related disorders, tuberculosis, bronchitis, bronchial asthma, epistaxis, haemorrhoids, bleeding ano-rectal conditions, pakshaya related disorders like diarrhoea, dysentery, rakta-pitta etc.
• This is used in various ayurvedic articulations like in the preparation of anu taila that is very beneficial in urdhava jatrugata roga, kumkumadi taila for twakgata roga, saraswata ghrita preparation is used for achieving the milestones in developmental diseases, maha triphala ghrit is broadly used for eye illnesses, pinda taila is effective in vata related disorders, somanath rasa for mutra vaha srotas dushti.
• Goat milk is very useful in the shodhana of many dhatus that can be further used for many health related disorders.

Milk is the rich source of vitamin B12, vitamin A, vitamin D and many other health supplements, the milk constituents are different in every species because of its different genetic compositions, mutational factors, milking capacity, and its surroundings.

In our Ayurvedic literatures there are 8 types of milk are mentioned that can be consumed on daily basis –

1. Sheep Milk
2. Goat Milk
3. Cow Milk
4. Buffalo Milk
5. Camel Milk
6. Elephant Milk
7. Horse Milk
8. Human Milk

The animals that take a superior nutritional diet will produce more nutritional rich milk than those animals who are on an inferior nutritional diet. Goat milk confers some more additional health supplements than others milk like small fat globules, various bioactive compounds, oligosaccharides, proteins that are important for growth, various carbohydrates, high chloride and potassium content and various vitamins like, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin B12, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin.

1. Helps to prevent milk allergies – It can help the person who is suffering from Ig-E mediated allergies that causes itching, irritation, asthma or dysentery, so in this condition it can be the best alternative for the people who are suffering from cow’s milk or these kinds of allergies.
2. Helps to maintain the blood pressure – proteins, angiotensin converting enzyme, potassium are very helpful for maintaining the blood pressure and heart functions.
3. Shows anti-inflammatory effects – It can help in disturbed oxidative and inflammatory responses who are included in various gastro-intestinal disorders like ulcerative colitis and crohn’s disease or Intestinal bowel diseases.
4. Antimicrobial activities – Various immuno-globulins are infused in goat’s milk that improve the ability of natural defence of the body that helps us to fight with various microbes and other harmful microorganisms.
5. Maintaining prebiotic activity – Goat’s milk is used to stimulate the healthy intestine and consists of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli that is very beneficial in providing good digestive health and helps to boost our immune system. Goat milk is capable of neutralising the acids and specially its curd is very helpful in healing the ulcers and other various GI Tract disorders.

Conclusion

Goat milk presents with various types of medicinal properties, it shows many similar features that are associated with human milk that is also easily digestible and helps to increase the immunity with the help of several protein formation, many immunoglobulins. Goat milk has important medicinal values for human beings and is a very healthy alternative to cow’s milk that is specially taken for children and added with fatty acid compositions and other bioactive compositions that are very beneficial in the prevention and management of various diseases.