Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1926 [PAGE 34]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1924]

U N I V E R S I T Y O F ILLINOIS

31

(4) "The fat of goat's milk is more digestible than that of cow's milk, because the fat globules of goat's milk are smaller than those of cow's milk. It is, therefore, in better emulsion and offers a greater surface for the action of the digestive ferments." 1. T h e size of the fat globules of milk is not necessarily a criterion of fat digestibility. Ninety-one percent of goat's milk fat globules are under four microns in diameter; 9 0 % of the cow's milk fat globules are over four microns, while h u m a n milk fat globules attain a size of thirty-two microns in diameter. If size of globules was the great factor of milk fat digestibility, goat's milk, from the fat view-point, would be better than cow's milk, and both goat's and cow's milk would be superior to h u m a n milk in infant feeding. Such a conclusion in the face of experience is absurd.1 2. Certain German observers (notably W . Stoeltzner) hold that the fat of goat's milk under the action of digestive ferments splits more readily into the lower fatty acids than the fat of cow's milk. They believe that the absorption of these lower fatty acids in infant feeding causes destruction of the red blood cells and produces a rather severe anemia in children, Milk Goat Anemia (Ziegenmilchanemie).* (5) "As goats rarely have tuberculosis the universal adoption of goat's milk in feeding infants and children would save approximately 11,000 lives and would prevent about 1 0 % of all the tuberculosis occurring in the United States annually." 1. Standard methods of the production of cow's milk (use of the tuberculin test, sanitary handling, and pasteurization) make cow's milk as safe as goat's milk. The goat is subject to garget, Malta fever, and foot and mouth disease, all of which are milk borne. Unless the goat's milk was delivered on the hoof as in certain European countries, it would not be safe for h u m a n consumption unless handled in accordance with the standard methods used for cow's milk. 2. The tendency of goats to browse omnivorously makes their milk more likely to be toxic than that of cow's. A number of cases have been reported in which severe symptoms of poisoning have been produced in users of goat's milk without the goats showing any signs of illness. (6) "If goat's milk is properly produced and handled, there should not be any goaty odor." There is a very strong prejudice among the majority of Americans against goats, their odors, and theflavorof their milk. The goaty odor of goat's milk comes from the hair and dirt which fall into it from the body of the animal and by absorption when milking the doe near the buck. If the doe is fed and milked under highly sanitary conditions, no disagreeable odor orflavoris found in goat's milk, but its taste is distinctly different from cow's milk. This difference seriously reduces its desirability in the minds of the average Americans. (7) "Remarkable results in certain cases have followed artificial feeding of infants with goat's milk." The truth of this claim is unquestioned. A few infants have an idiosyncrasy to cow's milk. It disagrees with them when carefully produced and modified. This condition is probably due to anaphylaxis to cow's protein and is similar to asthma or hives (urticaria), caused by the inhalation or ingestion of protein to which the individual is peculiarly susceptible. In these rare cases goat's milk is useful, but as they occur only about once in 10,000 cases, it does not create a large market for goat's milk. (8) "Goat's milk has been very efficacious in 'rheumatism'." Pharmacologists do not record that goat's milk contains any substance capable of producing a definite and characteristic effect valuable in the treatment of arthritis.

SUMMARY

1. Except in those rare instances in which a child m a y have an idiosyncrasy or hypersensitiveness (anaphylaxis) to cow's milk, goat's milk has no superiority to cow's milk in the artificial feeding of infants. 1. Cow's milk from tuberculin tested herds, handled in accordance with standard methods of production, and pasteurized, is superior to and safer than goat's milk, unless similarly produced and treated. iSchultz, E. W., and Chandler, L. R., Munch. Med. Wochsft. 1922,Goat's Milk." Jour. Biol. Chem., 1921 *6,133. 'Dettweiler, Vtbtr Zugfnmilckantmi*. Munch. Med. Wochsft. 1922, in 69, *StocItzner, W., Utber Ziegmmitckaiumit. "She 0/ Fat Glokides 69, ioij.4.