goat's milk, A1 vs A2 milk

ozonehole · March 8, 2010, 6:02am

Hi all,

I have made some significant changes in my diet over the past, and feel better for it.

I do drink coffee, something I couldn't do until recently. I can't stand it black. I used to use sugar but now stevia for sweetening. I used to use non-dairy coffee creamer (vile stuff, made from corn syrup) but now I'm using powdered goat's milk.

I tried powdered cow's milk, and it gave me diarrhea. Goat's milk does not. Interesting, because both contain lactose in almost the same proportions.

Since lactose-intolerance cannot be the deciding factor, I suspect (just a theory, mind you) that the difference is that most cow's milk is A1, or mixed A1 and A2 type. This refers to a type of protein in the milk. Goat's milk is entirely A2. If you google on "A1 A2 milk" you'll get all sorts of hits. Just one of the more interesting results:

http://www.alternet.org/health/142377

Anyone else have experience with goat's milk they can share?

My only complaint about goat's milk is the price, about 4 times the cost of cow's milk.

regards,
Robert

Crohn's since 1988
3 resections

Post Edited (ozonehole) : 3/7/2010 11:06:34 PM (GMT-7)

sdsurfer76 · March 8, 2010, 6:11am

i never liked coffee until i got rid of my sweet tooth. now i only like black coffee (ok, i will admit, i am subject to doctoring it up with bailey's and/or Kahlua/frangelico from time to time).

powdered milk (or anything powder for that matter) is bad cos it contains oxidized cholesterol which is super bad for you. like trans fat bad.

i've read that goat's milk contains less lactose than cow milk, so interesting point you bring up. i've read many times in different sources that those that are lactose intolerant do better on goat and sheep milk dairy products. supposedly fermented dairy products (ie yogurt, kefir, cheese) has most if not all of the lactose component removed due to the fermentation so lactose intolerant people almost always can eat these with no problem. i dont find that always to be true - perhaps it is more portion size? anyhoo, cow milk takes a long time to digest. goat and sheep milk both have smaller molecules, just slightly bigger than human milk molecules, so these digest a lot faster than cow milk. perhaps that is one reason why they are tolerated better - faster digestion = less time sitting around fermenting and off gassing causing bloating and gas? just an idea...

just from a nutrition standpoint, i seek out dairy from goat and sheep. yes it sucks paying the higher price, but since i dont eat it too often, i dont mind it. i also search for them raw and from whole milk (ie full fat). i seem to tolerate raw cream and raw colostrum from cows ok too. i have no problem with cheese from any source. i think i do best on sheep milk yogurt. but man, $2.50 for a 6 oz container - ouch! but it tastes oohhhhhh soooo gooood... *drool*

Crazy Harry

---------------------------------------------
Crohn's since 1993 (17 yrs old then)
surgery in July '05 - removal of 2 inches at ileum and 8 inches of sigmoid colon (had fistula into bladder)
Nov '05 developed colonic inertia; July '06 told i needed ostomy surgery
began maker's diet in August '06 - now feeling the best ever with no symptoms of colonic inertia and i kept my colon
med free as of 10/31/07

pb4 · March 8, 2010, 6:14am

Here's an excellent link re; goats milk vs cows milk....goats milk is closer to human milk than cow milk, it's easier tolerated for that and other reasons listed in the link...I drank goats milk when I first got sick with CD cuz cows milk obviously made me sicker....goats milk is better for human consumption than cows milk all around.

ozonehole · March 8, 2010, 12:18pm

CrazyHarry said...
i never liked coffee until i got rid of my sweet tooth. now i only like black coffee (ok, i will admit, i am subject to doctoring it up with bailey's and/or Kahlua/frangelico from time to time).

I swore off sugar last year, so coffee sweetened with stevia is my "dessert." I also use stevia to sweeten black tea, and whole oats (my usual breakfast). It's funny, once you get away from sugar, you really don't miss it (at least, I don't), but I think you've got to go cold turkey. Cheat a little and you're instantly addicted again.

CrazyHarry said...

powdered milk (or anything powder for that matter) is bad cos it contains oxidized cholesterol which is super bad for you. like trans fat bad.

When I read that, I sort of rolled my eyes and said "CrazyHarry really is crazy," but then I googled it and found out you are correct! So my powdered milk isn't so good for me after all. Fortunately, my cholesterol levels are still low, and perhaps that's partially because I don't really drink milk, just put a bit in my coffee, but still it's one more nasty thing to think about. Taiwan is not the best place to go looking for fresh milk, unfortunately.

CrazyHarry said...

i've read that goat's milk contains less lactose than cow milk, so interesting point you bring up.

I did look that up, and it's true, but the difference isn't huge. Cow's milk is 4.7% lactose, goat's milk 4.1%. But the same source for that info confirms that goat's milk contains no casein, the nasty A1 protein found in cow's milk:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/GoatsMilk.htm
I appreciate the info, CH.
best regards,
Robert

snohare · March 9, 2010, 12:05am

Hereabouts (Aberdeenshire in Scotland) - where Crohns Disease is so common everyone has heard of it, and knows someone with it - goat's milk is an old rural remedy for a bad gut. This is what my father was put on as a child when cow's milk made him ill - they put him to stay a few miles away where there was a goat, and there he stayed until he was well again - and for some reason, he has never had a problem again with what he ate or drank, until just recently, more than sixty years later.
When someone in my family finally got around to mentioning this, I tried it, and I also found it settled my stomach, but not to the same degree; for example, I found goat's cheese burns on the way out and does nothing for improving my stomach. I still consider goat's milk safe, but as I don't particularly like it I usually use oat milk or rice milk instead. Goat's milk products in the UK are as rare as hen's teeth, so I have never tasted yoghurt from them ! Sheep's milk cheese - now there is a lovely reason to go through Schipol Airport...I would go a long way to get that, but I've never seen it here.
I worked out a long time ago that my milk intolerance was not due to lactose; I could eat products that had lactose in them, and lactose-free milk did not do me any good. But what I did notice was that products like cocoa and other drinks that had caseinates in them, would make me ill, unless highly processed. (So if I heated and reheated cocoa, eventually it would be less likely to make me nauseous and give me the runs or a rash.) The conclusion I came to was that casein, or caseinates (whatever they were) or some form of protein, were the problem, and I had a leaky gut in terms of permeability. Finding that one form of carrageenan with a higher molecular weight was not a problem for me, but another form with a smaller molecule was, reinforced this idea.
Nothing I've heard or read of in the intervening decades has opposed this paradigm, so I am still working on the basis that this is the case.

clevine · March 9, 2010, 12:57am

I'm 40 years with cd and i can't use cows milk at all, but in 09 i discovered goats milk and what a difference, I don't use it alot, coffee, oatmeal, i use kefir for my oatmeal,plain kefir. but I never drink hot cocoa, but this christmas I thought I'm gonna try a cup of hot goat milk cocoa, went down with no discomfort afterwards, so goat milk is $$$$ but it is worth it. i really believe it's the a2 that makes the difference, not the lactose, different type of lactose.

artist guy