About Raw Goat Milk
The enzymes in raw goat milk help in the digestion of the sugars, fats and minerals in the milk, according to a research report published in the July 2008 edition of the journal “Appetite.” Pasteurization destroys these enzymes and makes it difficult to digest milk, thereby leading to lactose intolerance which can lead to abdominal bloating, diarrhea and cramps.
Raw milk is nutritionally superior to pasteurized milk because heat alters and degrades some of the nutrients naturally found in it. Several heat-sensitive vitamins, including thiamine, riboflavin, and vitamins C, E and B-12, are destroyed in the pasteurization process and are found in smaller amounts in pasteurized milk than in raw milk. The fat content of raw milk — 4 percent on average — is higher than that of commercial whole milk, which is standardized at 3.5 percent.
People who have a milk allergy may tolerate raw goat milk better than pasteurized or cow’s milk. In the 2010 article in “Clinical and Experimental Allergy,” the authors reported that homogenization, a process that breaks up fat globules and prevents a cream layer from separating out of milk, leads to milk allergy in animal models.
Raw milk may taste better than pasteurized milk as heating alters some of its flavor properties. Specifically, pasteurization produces a variety of sulfur-containing compounds that can impart a “cooked,” “stale” or “acid” flavor, in the words of the “Food Control” researchers.