Cow's milk is the standard kind of milk pasteurized and sold to consumers in North America, but it is not the only choice.The milk of sheep and goats is not as commonly used or accepted in the United States as in other parts of the world, but sheep's and goat's milk provide a wide range of essential nutrients. Nutritional breakdown of the two milks show that both are rich and healthy for consumer use.
Calories and Fat
Sheep's milk and goat's milk both contain more calories than cow's milk per unit. For example, 100 g of sheep's milk, approximately 3.5 oz, contains 108 calories, according to the University of Delaware's Department of Animal and Food Sciences. The same measure of goat's milk contains 69 calories, and cow's milk contains just 61 calories per 100 g. More than half of the calories of both goat's and sheep's whole milk come from fat, according to the online resource Organic Facts. Some 62 of the 108 calories in 100 g of sheep's milk come from fat; there are 36 fat calories in 3.5 oz of goat's milk.
Vitamins and Minerals
Both goat's milk and sheep's milk are packed with more vitamins and minerals than cow's milk, although sheep's milk comes out slightly ahead in the nutrient race. Both types of milk contain a range of B vitamins, including B2, B3, B6 and B12, but sheep's milk provides between 33 percent and 50 percent more B vitamins than goat's milk. The largest nutritional discrepancy between the two milks is the level of vitamin B12: Sheep's milk contains 0.7 mcg of B12 per 100 g, compared to 0.065 mcg in goat's milk. Sheep's and goat's milk are excellent sources of calcium and phosphorus. Sheep's milk provides 193 mg of calcium and 158 mg of phosphorus per 100 g. The same amount of goat's milk has 134 mg of calcium and 111 mg of phosphorus. Both types of milk offer trace amounts of zinc and iron, as well as a lower level of sodium than cow's milk.
Protein
Sheep's and goat's milk are protein-rich beverages. Old Chatham Sheepherding Company, a family-owned business in New York, measures protein in sheep's milk in percentages rather than grams. Sheep's milk has a 5.98 percent concentration of protein. The concentration of goat's milk is 3.56 percent protein; this is more in line with the protein content of cow's milk, which measures 3.29 percent.
Benefits
Both sheep's and goat's milk may provide nutritional benefits if you suffer from allergies or intolerance to cow's milk. Medical research on the use of sheep's or goat's milk as an alternative to cow's milk is lacking, according to George F. W. Haenlein of the University of Delaware; more than 500 publications addressed the subject of cow's milk allergies between the years of 1990 and 2000, while just 32 journals covered goat's milk allergies and seven publications shared results of studies regarding intolerance to sheep's milk. Pediatrician Dr. William Sears explains that humans can digest the proteins in goat's milk more easily than those in cow's milk; as a result, goat's milk and infant formula derived from goat's milk may be an appropriate alternative for babies and toddlers who are allergic to cow's milk and soy products.
References
- Smallstock in Development; The Nutritional Value of Sheep Milk; George F. W. Haenlein;
- Ask Dr. Sears: Goat Milk
- Science Daily; Goats' Milk is More Beneficial to Health Than Cows' Milk, Study Suggests; July 2007
- Organic Facts; Nutritional Value of Goat Milk and Sheep Milk; Nishidha Patil
- Old Chatham Sheepherding Company: Our Sheep's Milk Yogurt Health and Nutrition Facts
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