[PHNUTR-L] New studies on goats' milk show it is more beneficial to health than cows' milk

[Kathrynne Holden]

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Public release date: 30-Jul-2007
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-07/udg-nso073007.php

Contact: Dr Javier Díaz Castro
javierdc at ugr.es
34-654-574-434
Universidad de Granada

New studies on goats' milk show it is more beneficial to health than 
cows' milk

This release is available in Spanish.

Research carried out at the Department of Physiology of the University 
of Granada (Universidad de Granada [http://www.ugr.es]) has revealed 
that goats’ milk has more beneficial properties to health than cows’ 
milk. Among these properties it helps to prevent ferropenic anaemia 
(iron deficiency) and bone demineralisation (softening of the bones).

This project, conducted by Doctor Javier Díaz Castro and directed by 
professors Margarita Sánchez Campos, Mª Inmaculada López Aliaga and Mª 
José Muñoz Alférez, focuses on the comparison between the nutritional 
properties of goats’ milk and cows’ milk, both with normal calcium 
content and calcium enriched, against the bioavailability of iron, 
calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. To carry out this study, the 
metabolic balance technique has been used both in rats with 
experimentally induced nutritional ferropenic anaemia and in a control 
group of rats.

In order to know how the nutritive utilisation of these minerals may 
affect their metabolic distribution and destination, the UGR researcher 
has determined the concentration of these minerals in the different 
organs involved in their homeostatic regulation and different 
haematological parameters in relation to the metabolism of the minerals.

Better results with goats’ milk

Results obtained in the study reveal that ferropenic anaemia and bone 
demineralisation caused by this pathology have a better recovery with 
goats’ milk. Due to the higher bioavailability of iron, calcium, 
phosphorus and magnesium, the restoration of altered haematological 
parameters and the better levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), a hormone 
that regulates the calcium balance in the organism was found in the rats 
that consumed this food.

Javier Díaz Castro points out that the inclusion of goats’ milk with 
normal or double calcium content in the diet “favours digestive and 
metabolic utilisation of iron, calcium and phosphorus and their deposit 
in target organs - parts of the organism to which these minerals are 
preferably sent - involved in their homeostatic regulation”.

According to this researcher, all these conclusions reveal that regular 
consumption of goats’ milk – a natural food with highly beneficial 
nutritional characteristics - “has positive effects on mineral 
metabolism, recovery from ferropenic anaemia and bone mineralisation in 
rats. In addition, and unlike observations in cows’ milk, its calcium 
enrichment does not interfere in the bioavailability of the minerals 
studied”.

Although there is no doubt that these findings may be a base for further 
in depth study of the multiple health benefits of goats’ milk, the UGR 
[http://www.ugr.es] researcher warns that “studies in humans are still 
required in order to confirm the findings obtained in rats and to 
promote goats’ milk consumption both in the general population and in 
the population affected by nutritional ferropenic anaemia and 
pathologies related to bone demineralisation”. Part of the results of 
this research has been published in the prestigious scientific journals 
International Dairy Journal and Journal Dairy Science.
###
Reference:

Dr Javier Díaz Castro. Department of Physiology, University of Granada.
Tel.: +34 958 24 83 19 / +34 654 57 44 34. Email: javierdc at ugr.es.
-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
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