It really gets my goat (That's good!)
Nothing says pastoral more than shepherds on a hill with a flock of goats. And today, with all the different kinds of milk out there, you can get a sense of the pastoral diet by drinking some goat milk. Not only does it offer superior nutritional value when compared to cow milk, it also may have an added benefit for your longevity.
In the Sardinian Blue Zone, researchers are studying all the components of goat milk, including oligosaccharides, which have demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties in studies on rats. Could goat milk’s properties help fight inflammatory diseases (many of the diseases of aging are inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s) in humans as well? But nutrition alone should be enough to encourage a try: Goat milk has 13 percent more calcium and nearly 50 percent more vitamin A than cow’s milk, not to mention more vitamin B6, niacin and potassium.
And the composition of goat milk offers other benefits as well. A study by scientists at the University of Granada has also yielded promising results. By studying rats, the scientists found that the magnesium, iron, and calcium is more bio-available in goat milk and that the rat subjects had better mineral metabolism and recovery from anemia on a goat milk diet. The researchers conclude that:
regular consumption of goat 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 cow milk, its calcium enrichment does not interfere in the bioavailability of the minerals studied.”
While research is ongoing, and the full effects for humans remain to be described, go ahead and try some goat milk. Research has definitely begun to highlight its nutritional value.
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