Nutritional and health attributes of goat milk

Goat milk differs from cow and human milk in having better digestibility, buffer capacity, alkalinity and therapeutic values.

In gross characterization of milk fat, goat milk contains 97-99% of free lipids and 1-3% bound lipids of total fat.

One of the most important contributions of goat milk to human nutrition is the calcium and phosphate that it supplies. Goat milk contains about 1.2 g calcium and 1 g phosphate per liter; these concentrations are similar to those in cow milk.

Fat is up to 99 % glycerides and steroids. Free lipids of goat milk contained 96.8% triglycerides, 2.2% diglycerides and o.9% monoglyceride, whereas bound lipids contained 46.8% neutral lipids and 53.2% polar lipids.

Fat globules are smaller and probably one of the reasons for easy digestion of this milk. The average diameter of globules in goat‟s milk is about 1.5-2 µm compared to 2.5-3.5 µm for cow‟s milk and the percentage of globules of less than 1.5µm is 28% for goat‟s milk verses 10% for cow‟s milk. These smaller sized fat globules provide a better dispersion, and a more homogeneous mixture of fat in the milk.

Goat milk contains slightly less total casein but higher non-protein nitrogen than the cow counterpart. Milk from goats is also high in vitamin A and niacin.

Lactose is the major carbohydrate in goat milk and the content is slightly lower than in cow milk. Other carbohydrates found in goat milk are oligosaccharides, glycopeptides, glycoproteins and nucleotides in small amounts.

Goat milk taste varies a great deal by bred, by feed stuffs, by stage of lactation, by the age of the milk and especially by the way it’s handled.

Goat milk is more complex in flavor than cow’s milk. and is gaining popularity in the United States for those with allergies to cow’s milk and for those who choose to avoid cattle byproducts.
Nutritional and health attributes of goat milk

Main nutritional components of butter

Butter products are broadly classified as sweet cream unsalted, sweet cream salted, cultured unsalted, cultured salted butter, or traditional sour cream butter.

Butter is principally composed of milk fat, moisture, salt and curd. It also contains small amount of fat, lactose, acids, phospholipids, air, microorganisms, enzymes and vitamins.

The nutrition facts for 1 tablespoon (14 grams) of salted butter are:
Water: 16%
Protein: 0.12 grams
Carbs: 0.01 grams
Sugar: 0.01 grams
Fiber: 0 grams
Fat: 11.52 grams
Monounsaturated: 2.99 grams
Polyunsaturated: 0.43 grams
Trans: 0.47 grams

Butter is considered as high calorie food as 100 g of butter provides almost 700 Kcal. Butter has a saturated fat content around 51.4%, with saturated fats, such as palmitic and stearic acid, which are double the concentration of those in cream and other dairy products. However, stearic acid is beneficial to health and lowers the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in blood.

Butyric acid is at a greater concentration in butter than other short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). It causes a rancid off-flavor in butter, which is undesirable during storage. However, phospholipids have many biological activities which are essential for human health.

The presence of carotene in natural butter is a source of important nutrition for human beings. Carotene benefits various parts of the body. It promotes cell regrowth and repair, protecting the body from various infections.
Main nutritional components of butter 

Nutrient content in almond milk

There are a dozens of reason almond milk is worth adding to human diet. The first is that the light, nutty, crisp flavor is almost immediately palatable.

Almond milk is high in protective antioxidants, particularly vitamin E, and rich in flavonoids. Unlike cow’s milk, almond milk contains no cholesterol and no saturated fats so it won’t damage the cardiovascular system. It also contains only 5 mg of sodium per serving. In addition, a serving of almond milk contains 150 mg of potassium, which is particularly beneficial in promoting healthy blood pressure.

Plain almond milk without added sugars or flavoring contains 40 calories per 8 ounce serving. It is good for weight loss or who want maintain a low weight.

One cup of almond milk also includes significant amounts of magnesium, manganese, selenium and vitamin E. Almond milk has the highest concentrations of vitamins and minerals compared to soy and rice milks.

While the taste is significantly different from soy, the most preferred almond milk contains added sugar. Many milk substitutes take some getting used to, but almond milk offers a similar consistency to milk and tastes great in all the same places – over cereal, in a cup of coffee or served ice cold in a glass with a straw.

It has all the creamy goodness of milk, without all of the adverse reactions some bodies experience when consuming dairy.
Nutrient content in almond milk

What is imitation milk?

Imitation milks can be manufactured to resemble milk and be used in place of milk. These products resemble whole milk but contain no actual milk ingredients. They generally contain water, vegetable fats, corn sugar, starch, vegetable protein, sodium caseinate, and stabilizers, such as gums or alginates.

Vitamins and minerals may be added to the product to improve the nutritional value. Imitation milks usually do not taste like whole milk and often require the addition of flavorings.

An imitation milk product may look and taste like the traditional product, yet is nutritionally inferior. Specifying the term ‘imitational’ on labels is no longer a legal requirement.

Imitation milks are lactose-free and so are useful for people with lactase deficiency, but sometimes sodium caseinate and whey are added, which makes these products inappropriate for people with milk-protein allergies.

The vegetable fat, like milk fat, may be high in saturated fatty acids from coconut or palm oils used in the manufacture of these products.

Both imitation and filled milks are used as a basis for formulation of synthetic and semisynthetic of flavored milk drinks, ice cream, and other frozen desserts, butter, cream cheese, coffee cream, whipped cream, and other imitation dairy products.

All these products are processed, stored and distributed in a manner similar to that of the dairy products that they resemble. Coffee whiteners or lighteners are popular among consumers because of their excellent storage life. Such longevity is a distinct advantage to people who rarely use ice cream.
What is imitation milk?

Vitamin A content in cow’s milk

All-trans retinol is the main form of vitamin A present in milk, the cis isomer of retinol being sometimes observed in a very low amount in cow’s milk.

The amount of vitamin A in milk varies with the carotene content of the feed. Normally, vitamin A potency is highest when the cow is on succulent pastures in the spring and lowest when the cow is hay-fed during the winter season.

The vitamin A potency of milk can be increased to a level that approaches summer milk by feeding rations high in carotene content.

Concentrations of vitamin A and carotenoids in milk are also dependent on animal species. Indeed caprine milk is richer (30%) in retinol and conversely beta-carotene is 30% higher in cow’s milk than goat’s milk.

Guernsey milk contained more carotene than preformed vitamin A, Jersey approximately equal proportions whereas the Holstein milk the carotene constituted approximately 30 percent and the vitamin A, 70 percent of the total biological active vitamin A.
Vitamin A content in cow’s milk

Healthy cheese

Cheese is an excellent source of protein. The amount of protein people should consume varies depending on gender, age, weight and physical condition.

Soft chesses such as cottage cheese and quark are low-fat products that have been manufactured for decades.

Reduced –fat cheeses are consumed mainly because of their power fat content, resulting in lower energy content. Other motivators to choose reduced-fat dairy product are healthiness and taste.

Best picks cheese
Higher in protein and calcium: Gruyere, Parmesan, Gouda, cottage cheese
Lower in fat and calories: part-skim ricotta, mozzarella, feta, goat, cottage cheese
Lower in sodium: Camembert, Swiss

The harder and drier the cheese, the more calories per ounce it will contain. Many people surprise to learn than an ounce of aged cheddar has more calories than on ounce of ripe Camembert.

On average, a serving of cheese will provide calories 10 percent human proteins needs.

Cheese is also an outstanding source of calcium. Studies regularly claim that many children and adults in the United States are not getting their needed calcium.

One way to boost calcium intake is by adding cheese to the diet. Just one ounce of almost any cheese provides up between 10 to 20 percent of daily calcium requirements.

In randomized study, experts found that cheese intake did not significantly increase LDL cholesterol levels. The researchers speculate that cheese may not raise blood cholesterol level due to its calcium content or because fermentation may have a cholesterol lowering affect (J. Am Coll. Nutr.,23, 169, 2004).
Healthy cheese

Nutritional value of cheese

The essence of cheese making is the coagulation of milk and its conversion from a colloidal dispersion into a gel known as curd, and the subsequent release of water in the form of whey.

The cheese-makers have to ensure that the cheese is an edible, acceptable, marketable and nutritious food. 

Nowadays, the consumer has become more away of food composition and the risks – real or imaginary – that may associated with excessive intakes of certain components in foods.

Cheese has a high nutritional value as would be expected from the fact that a pint or 568 mL of milk produces only about 56 g cheese.

Cheese made from whole milk is known to contain most of the essential fatty acids.

The daily protein requirement for adults is approximately 1g/kg, of body weight so that, for a person weighing 70 kg, the daily requirements would be about 70 g of protein.

All cheese is a good source of high quality proteins with sufficient amounts of all the essential amino acids. Casein is the main protein in cheese, it contains all the indispensible amino acids in approximately the proportions that the human body needs.

Cheese is rich source of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A and also contains useful quantities of other nutrients.

All cheeses, except cottage cheese, are good sources of vitamin A. Orange and yellow cheeses are colored with carotenoid pigments, including bixin (the carotenoid pigment in anatto) and synthetic beta-carotene. 

Hard cheeses are an excellent source of calcium: softer cheeses are a good source; cream cheese and cottage cheese are poor source.

It is much more concentrated food than milk but it less complete because of its lack of carbohydrate.

45 g of cheddar cheese contains:
Energy            769 kJ
Protein           11.5 g
Carbohydrate 0.05 g
Fat                 15.5 g
Calcium          324 mg
Iron                0.1 mg

50 g cottage cheese contains:
Energy            207 kJ
Protein            6.9 g
Carbohydrate 1.1 g
Fat                 2 g
Calcium          35 mg
Iron                0.2 mg
Nutritional value of cheese

Milk

The Holstein breed outnumbers all others used in the United States for the production of milk.

Jersey and Guernsey breeds tolerate hot weather better than Holsteins, hence may be the predominant types used for the production of milk in hot weather in certain areas.

Cow’s milk contains an average of 3.8% fat (called butter fat), 3.3% protein, 4.8% lactose (a 12-carbon sugar), 0.7% ash (minerals), and 87.4% water.

Milk also contains vitamin and other nutrients in small amounts, making it the most complete of foods.

The young of mammalians survive on it exclusively. However, components of milk from different species vary, and occasionally the young one species may be unable to tolerate the milk from other species, mainly because of differences in lactose contained therein.

The fat content of milk from Ayrshire and Brown Swiss, and especially form Guernsey and Jersey breed, is slightly higher than that form Holstein cow’s, but later breed generally produces much more milk than the others.

Most milk is produced on farms than deal primarily with the raising of dairy cattle.
Milk

Nutrient in low fat milk

The term ‘milk’ is synonymously with whole milk, which must contain not less than 3.25% milk fat and 8.25% solids not fat.

Fat provides a perception of creaminess and improves the mouth feel of acid dairy products.

Fat reduce milks are labeled according to their contribution of grams of fat per reference amount (RA) of 240 mL. Low fat milk contributes less than 3 g fat per RA, while nonfat milk contributes less than 0.5 g of fat per RA.

Low fat milk contains 0.5%, 1.5% or 2% milk fat and not less than 8.25 percent nonfat solids.  Though it contains 2% fat by weight, this amount is equivalent to 30 percent of the total calories. Sometimes low-fat milk is fortified with nonfat dry milk.

One cup of low fat milk provides 121 calories; protein, 8.1 g; carbohydrate, 11.7 g; calcium, 297 mg; fat, 4.8 g; cholesterol, 22 mg; vitamin A, 140 retinal equivalents; thiamin, 0.1 mg; riboflavin, 0.4 mg; niacin, 0.21 mg.
Nutrient in low fat milk 

Nutrients in Milk

Nutrients in Milk 

Lactose It is the principal and typical carbohydrate of milk, known as milk sugar. Glucose, galactose and other sugars such as oligosaccharides are also present in traces. Lactose exists in true solution in milk. It is a disaccharide, composed of two molecules of monosaccharides; glucose, and galactose. Lactose is readily fermented by the lactic acid fermenting bacteria producing lactic acid and has significance in milk and milk products. It exists in two isomeric forms, designated as α and β forms of which the β form is more soluble than the alpha form in water. Lactose content of cow milk is 4.9 percent. The lactose content of milk is inversely proportional to the ash content of the milk. Udder infection promotes an increased level of chloride in the milk and depresses the secretion of lactose.

Proteins Milk protein is a rich source of essential amino acids. Whey proteins are proteins that are passed along with the whey portion after the coagulation of milk. They contain 51% essential amino acids when compared to 45% in casein. The sulphur containing amino acids, which are considered essential and important, are found in higher concentration in whey protein than in casein. Usually the quality of egg proteins are regarded as very high. But the net protein utilization, biological value and the protein efficiency ratio of milk protein come neck in neck with the quality of egg protein. Lactalbumin, a whey protein , whose biological value, net protein utilization and protein efficiency ratio is considered superior when compared to the major milk protein, casein. Normally double the quantum of vegetable protein is required to meet the daily requirement of essential amino acids when compared to that obtained from the milk proteins.

Casein May be defined as the major protein, which is precipitated at pH 4.6 and is exclusive to milk. It is present in spherical bodies as micelles, which vary in size with negative surface charge. The caseins of milk may be sub-divided into five main classes, αs1, αs2, β, gamma and k-caseins. In milk, casein is present in combination with calcium in the form of calcium caseinate or more precisely calcium hydrogen caseinate.

Whey proteins Are those in the whey fraction, after the precipitation of casein at pH 4.6. These are the alpha-lactalbumin, beta-lactoglobulin, immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, transferrin, proteose-peptone fractions etc. Most of these are globular proteins subject to heat denaturation. α-lactalbumin exists in variants A and B forms and is susceptible to denaturation by unfolding of the tertiary structure. β-lactoglobulin is identical to blood globulin and insoluble in water and is responsible for the transfer of antibodies. Normal milk contains 0.1%, whereas colostrum contains 6 %.

Milk fat The digestibility of milk is comparatively higher than other oils and fats. This can be attributed to existence of fat globules in aqueous phase forming an emulsion. This facilitates its easy absorption through the intestinal tract when compared to other fats which have to be emulsified with bile salts, enzymes from pancreas and fat splitting lipases. Endowed with short and medium chain fatty acids, milk fat can be easily absorbed when compared to long chain fatty acids because of the ability of the lipases to split the ester bonds in the former. Supplementation of milk fat in the diet increases the energy density. When compared to human milk, the cow milk is low in essential fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic acids. Short and medium chain fatty acids with 4-12 carbon atoms, which occur at comparatively higher concentration in milk fat, reported to have antibacterial and fungistatic activity. Milk fat plays another important role in preventing tooth decay by forming a protective coat over the surface of enamel. It is composed of triglycerides of fatty acids. A fatty acid molecule is composed of hydrocarbon chain and carboxyl group. Triglycerides are of two types, simple and complex. In simple, all the three fatty acids are of same nature, whereas complex triglycerides on hydrolysis give glycerol and different fatty acids. The milk fat exists in the form of small globules of sizes ranging from 2 to 10 microns with different glycerides of low melting points in suspension. Milk fat varies in amount and composition, according to the breed, species, feed and lactation time, of which, feed being a major factor. Fat is distributed in globules as triglycerides (98-99 %), fat globule membrane in combination with phospholipids and lipoprotein (0.2 to 1.0 %) and also as free fatty acids, cholesterol and phospholipids in the serum.

Phospholipids These contain phosphorus in their molecules in addition to the fatty acids and glycerol; they also contain a nitrogenous base. Principally milk phospholipids are the Lecithin, Cephalin and Sphingomyelin. Though fat-soluble, they are hydrophilic and imbibe large quantity of water and swell. They are used as antioxidants for fat rich dairy products.

Vitamins Various vitamins present in milk are as follows. Fat Soluble Vitamins - include vitamins A, D, E and K. Water-soluble vitamins are the, B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyridoxine), Biotin, Niacin (nicotinic acid), Pantothenic Acid, Para-amino benzoic acid, Inositol, Choline, Folic acid, B12, and Ascorbic acid. Fat rich milk products contain large quantities of fat soluble vitamins, whereas whole milk, skim milk, buttermilk and whey are a good source of water soluble vitamins.

Minerals The portion left after ashing of milk at 150ºC is known as the 'ash of milk' and is composed of various inorganic constituents. Ash forms about 0.75 % of milk and plays a very important role in milk and is basic in character. The minerals in milk consist principally of the chlorides, citrates and bicarbonates of calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium.

Nutrients in Milk Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com By Thenmozhi Kathirvelu