Goats Milk

[Wellhairedbeast]

I drink a few glasses of whole cows milk a day (not GOMADing) and i was wondering if anyone has an opinion on goats milk?

Are there any advantages / disadvantages in goats milk compared to cows milk assuming both are whole milk?

From what i gather its easier to digest so useful for people who have problems with cows milk, but theres a trade off in nutritional value?

[FilthyMcNasty]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk

http://www.saanendoah.com/compare.html

Can't paste the table, formatting comes out too messy.

[itsbruce]

There seems to be very little difference in the important ingredients. The most significant difference, to me, is that goats milk is more easily digestible. This would make it a better choice for GOMAD if other factors are equal.

[FilthyMcNasty]

Source http://www.saanendoah.com/compare.html#digestibility

These requirements generally increase after the first 6 months of life.
Infants consume about 750-800 g/day for the first 4-5 months (450-1200g/day range).
Note that most of the minerals in goat and cow milk are significantly higher than in human milk. This, coupled with the higher protein of cow and goat milks (more than 3% compared to about 1.3%), make dilution necessary so as to avoid hypertonic dehydration (a result of high solutes in urine). But, after dilution, carbohydrate should be added to cow or goat milk because human milk contains 7.0 g/100g lactose compared to about 4.5 g/100g lactose found in cow and goat milks.

Distinguishing between allergies and lactose intolerance:
Allergies and lactose intolerance are different things.
An allergic reaction is the body's response to a foreign body (antigen), typically proteins. Goat milk proteins have slightly different amino acid structures than cow milk proteins. Thus, a person who produces antibodies to cow milk proteins, may not produce antibodies to goat milk proteins. However, there is no guarantee that a person who is allergic to cow milk will not be allergic to goat milk, because the milks are similar.
Lactose intolerance or lactose maldigestion result from a person's inability to completely digest lactose. Because microorganisms in the gut will produce gas, symptoms of lactose intolerance include cramps, flatulence and bloating. Lactose is present in all milks. Thus, goat milk can not successfully be substituted for cow milk in cases of lactose intolerance.


A note about goat milk digestibility:
Goat milk's tendency to be more easily digested than cow milk is due to its protein make-up. Goat milk has low levels of the protein alpha s1-casein, a protein that is involved in curd formation. Cow milk has higher quantities of alpha s1-casein than goat milk. In fact, some goats naturally produce very little alpha s1-casein. The higher proportion of small milk fat globules present in goat milk compared to cow milk may also contribute to goat milk's tendency to be more easily digested.


Perhaps you've heard that goat milk is 'naturally homogenized':
Because fat is lighter than water, the cream portion of milk floats on top of the skim portion of milk. Most cows milks in the store are homogenized so that we do not see the two phases of milk. The milk is forced through tiny pores under high pressure to break the fat into smaller sized globules. Small globules distribute in milk and do not float as readily. One reason goat milk does not have to be homogenized is because it has a high proportion of small fat globules. The other reason is that goat milk lacks the protein agglutinin. Agglutinin makes fat globules stick together and float.



...my own personal bias is goats milk btw, but cows milk is more plentiful and therefore could be cheaper if you're doing GOMAD.

[Wellhairedbeast]

Thanks for all the info!

Im not looking to GOMAD, i just make sure i have a good amount of milk in my diet, usually a couple of pints a day sometimes 3.

[lionize]

You're not a baby anymore

[Wellhairedbeast]

You're not a baby anymore

Thats right, thats why i asked as im no longer attached to my mothers teat my choice is between cows and goats milk.

Theres nothing with drinking milk as an adult, in fact its very good for you.

[lionize]

Is that what cows do when they grow up, suck on human tits? xD


ignore me, i'm in the minority here

[itsbruce]

You're not a baby anymore

Think of it as evolution. Because that's what it is.

[lovestolift]

If I'm not mistaken I think lionize is pointing out the fact that humans are the only mammals that regularly consume other mammal's milk. It'd be a valid argument if lionize didn't eat cooked food which he bought at the grocery store, drive a car (presumably), or own a computer, amongst other things.

My point is that we do a lot of things that other mammals don't do. Basing something's usefulness on whether or not other mammals do it is not a good litmus test. When used by a person that is in need of growth I think milk is a great resource. It has it's detractors, but so does everything. If milks not your thing, fine.

[Wellhairedbeast]

Good point LTL.

Also drinking cow/goats milk is no different to eating meat, one argument against milk is that it is not designed for us, well neither is beef. We are designed to consume things that are not necessarily designed to be consumed, a cow is there to survive and reproduce, we have just decided to domesticate and eat it. Now of course milk is specifically produced to feed a certain species, but that doesn't mean another species can't consume it.

Many cultures drink milk and other dairy products, in Mongolia they drink fermented yaks milk, and in the middle east milk is used a lot as a beverage as far as i know. I think western culture has just conditioned our society to believe milk is for kids only, probably due to all the school campaigns etc.

[itsbruce]

Those of use who are lactose tolerant are the descendants of people for whom this benign mutation was a boost to their ability to survive. Taking advantage of that adaptation is no more unnatural for humans than eating cooked food. Human beings actually depend on prepared food - we gradually starve to death if required to eat a diet of nothing but raw food. We've been cooking and preparing food for so long, we adapted to it (and the energy we save by eating easily-digestible food can be used to power our energy-hungry brains). Similarly, lactose tolerance became a useful mutation because of a technological development - cattle herding.

[lionize]

My point is that we do a lot of things that other mammals don't do. Basing something's usefulness on whether or not other mammals do it is not a good litmus test. When used by a person that is in need of growth I think milk is a great resource. It has it's detractors, but so does everything. If milks not your thing, fine.

I'm actually against slavery,

the other point was mostly a joke, although I don't think it's too comparable to human existance, because a lot of animals do things that humans don't.

[FilthyMcNasty]

Human beings actually depend on prepared food - we gradually starve to death if required to eat a diet of nothing but raw food. We've been cooking and preparing food for so long, we adapted to it (and the energy we save by eating easily-digestible food can be used to power our energy-hungry brains)..

No steak tartare and crudité for me then

[itsbruce]

Human beings actually depend on prepared food - we gradually starve to death if required to eat a diet of nothing but raw food. We've been cooking and preparing food for so long, we adapted to it (and the energy we save by eating easily-digestible food can be used to power our energy-hungry brains)..

No steak tartare and crudité for me then

Steak tartare is not unprepared food; it's been tenderised at the very least and often marinated. Besides, it's a diet of exclusivly raw, unprepared food that damages.