| Nancy1999 | 05-10-2010 09:07 AM |
1 Attachment(s) It's not the hormones it's the lactose in cow's milk. Lactose is actually a kind of sugar, not just one single sugar, but two sugar molecules chemically linked together.
In order for a dog to digest milk, the lactose must first be broken apart into its two more basic, and easy-to-absorb, sugars, a dog’s body must be able to produce its own special lactose-splitting enzyme, an enzyme known as lactase, and that's one thing, very few dogs can reliably do. So if your dog suffers from gas or diarrhea after drinking milk, he can't break down the lactose found in cow's milk. Is It OK to Give a Dog Milk or Dairy Products? Here's a picture showing the different amount of lactose in various milk products, cheese has much less milk sugar or lactose than does milk.
This link explains why goat's milk is easier to digest than cow's milk, they don't know exactly why yet, but it is thought to have superior digestibility. Quote:
Goat milk is more completely and easily absorbed than cow's milk, leaving less undigested residue behind in the colon to quite literally ferment and cause the uncomfortable symptoms of lactose intolerance.
It may also be that the patient is not lactose intolerant at all, but instead is one of the 1-in-10 people who are allergic to the major protein of cow's milk ... alpha S1 casein protein. The symptoms are almost identical to those of lactose intolerance. Both goat milk and human milk lack this offending protein.
The digestibility of goat milk can be attributed to its casein curd, which is both softer and smaller than that produced by bovine milk. The smaller and softer the curd, the more easily accepted by the human digestive system.
Another significant difference between cow's milk and goat milk is found in the composition and structure of fat. The average size of goat milk fat globules is about two micrometers, as compared to 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 micrometers for cow's milk. These smaller sized fat globules provide a better dispersion and a more homogenous mixture of fat in the milk, another factor in making goat milk easier to digest. Goat's Milk: A Natural Alternative for Milk Sensitive Patients
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