Dr. William Sears, M.D, is of the view that seldom infants are not able to digest cow’s milk so in these cases, goat’s milk is recommended to fill the gap. However, he has put forward few reasons as to why goat’s milk is preferred to over cow’s milk in case of infants:
1. Since protein is present in milk and when it encounters stomach acids, it forms a softer curd, making it easier for digestion unlike the curd formed from the cow’s milk. At times, the infants develop digestive problems from both the types of milk this is because of the presence of beta-lactoglobulin, an allergenic protein, found in both.
2. Goat’s milk consists of short and medium-chain fatty acids, which are easy to digest as compared to longer-chain fatty acids that are present in cow’s milk.
3. Both type of milk contains lactose, a form of sugar, but its proportion is slightly less in the milk of goat, this might be a possible reason why lactose intolerant infants can digest the milk.
Warning about goat’s milk
Though the vitamin & mineral content in both the milk are nearly equal yet, the goat’s milk have little more of calcium, vitamin B6, vitamin A, potassium, niacin, copper, and the antioxidant selenium. Moreover, it has to be supplemented with folic acid since its presence is slightly less than 10%.
However, cow’s milk is rich with folic acid and vitamin B12.
