This release is available in Spanish.
Research carried out at the Department of Physiology of the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada [http://www.ugr.es]) has revealed that goats milk has more beneficial properties to health than cows milk. Among these properties it helps to prevent ferropenic anaemia (iron deficiency) and bone demineralisation (softening of the bones).
This project, conducted by Doctor Javier Daz Castro and directed by professors Margarita Snchez Campos, M Inmaculada Lpez Aliaga and M Jos Muoz Alfrez, focuses on the comparison between the nutritional properties of goats milk and cows milk, both with normal calcium content and calcium enriched, against the bioavailability of iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. To carry out this study, the metabolic balance technique has been used both in rats with experimentally induced nutritional ferropenic anaemia and in a control group of rats.
In order to know how the nutritive utilisation of these minerals may affect their metabolic distribution and destination, the UGR researcher has determined the concentration of these minerals in the different organs involved in their homeostatic regulation and different haematological parameters in relation to the metabolism of the minerals.
Better results with goats milk
Results obtained in the study reveal that ferropenic anaemia and bone demineralisation caused by this pathology have a better recovery with goats milk. Due to the higher bioavailability of iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, the restoration of altered haematological parameters and the better levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), a hormone that regulates the calcium balance in the organism was found in the rats that consumed this food.
Javier Daz Castro points out that the inclusion of goats milk with norm
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Contact: Dr Javier Daz Castro
javierdc@ugr.es
34-654-574-434
Universidad de Granada
30-Jul-2007