Composition and characteristics of goat milk: a review

Abstract

Goat milk is considered one of the valuable dairy product with its nutritional benefits. Goat milk differs from cow or human milk in having better digestibility, alkalinity, buffering capacity, and certain therapeutic values in medicine and human nutrition. The worldwide economic importance of goats’ milk is increasing due to high interest of consumers. Potential of goat milk as the substitute for cow milk or the basic of cow milk-free diet is of importance to people with cow milk allergy, to goat milk consumers, producers and the goat milk industry. The functional value of goats’ milk may be further exploited through fermentation by selected microorganisms possessing specific features. The nutritional importance of milk in nutrition reinforce the role of its consumption in preventing several chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases, some forms of cancer, obesity, and diabetes.