Comparison Of Chemical And Mineral Content Of Milk From Human, Cow, Buffalo, Camel And Goat In Egypt.

Introduction

Milk is an excellen t source of most essential minerals for human. It contains mostly calcium, phosphorus and constitutes the most important source of bioavailable calcium in our diet (ICAR, 1981). Milk and dairy products are part of a healthy diet. The composition of the mil k of various animal species differs, but in every case it has a high priority in human nutrition. More than 5% of the world's milk comes from buffaloes. Over 95% of the world buffalo milk is produced in Asia (Charan, 1994). Buffalo milk is used i n much the same way as cow's milk. It is high in fat and total solids, which gives it a rich flavor. Many people prefer it than cow's milk. In Egypt, for example, the severe mortality rate among buffalo calves is due in part to the sale of buffalo milk, wh ich is in high demand, thus depriving calves of proper nourishment. The buffaloes of Egypt are used mainly for milk production. Buffalo milk is pure white because it contains no carotene since buffalo have already processed the carotene into vitamin A. Buf falo milk is also very thick. The value of goat milk in human nutrition has so far received very little factual and academic attention (Haenlein 1992; Park, 1991) despite its medical need for some people especially infants afflicted with various ailments, including cow milk protein sensitivities (Lothe et al., 1982 and Host et al., 1988). Goat milk proteins and fats have many significant differences in their compositions from the milk of other mammalian species, especially in relative proportions of the various milk proteins and fats and in their genetic polymorphisms (Ambrosoli et al., 1988). Goat milk have shorter rennet coagulation time, less resistance to heat treatment, curd firmness is weaker and cheese yields are less which might explain si gnificant differences to cow and other milk in digestion by infants and patients which traditionally have been explained by the "homogenized" nature of goat milk fat (Haenlein 1992; Park, 1991). Human milk is believed to provide all the nutrients and esse ntial minerals and trace elements (micronutrients) that are required by the normal term infant growth, until weaning. With a few exceptions, excessive micronutrient supplies to the mother, or a moderate deficiency in her diet, do not greatly alter the supp ly to the infant. Thus, the infant is well protected by maternal homeostatic processes (Bates and Prentice., 1994). There is a wide variation in the reported data on the concentrations of trace elements in human milk from different countries. The compositi on of human milk varies over the course of lactation and in each individual. Human milk is markedly different from cows' milk, both in terms of macronutrients and micronutrients. It is noteworthy that milk of each species has a particular individu al pattern of minerals, which may be a pointer ofrelative nutritional importance of the element. The aimof this work was to investigate and compare the mineral composition of human, cow, buffalo, camel and goat milk in Egypt since such comparisons are rare in Egypt. There are several studies dealing with the chemical composition of milk, but they are foreign, non - Egyptian . It is known that changing of environment has a significant effect on antural physiological function of both human and animals, so it w as very important to made such study on Egyptian environment (ecology), hoping to give understanding and explain some of the malnutrition problems in Egypt.