Health & Nutrition

Buffalo Milk

There is no animal milk other than raw goat milk which is alkaline,
naturally homogenized, and has colostrum which exactly replicates Mother's
milk colostrum--the most important factor for immunity and the immune
system. (Please see article on Raw Goat and its comparison to cow milk for
full information). Next to raw goat milk I prefer homemade nut milks.
Having said this, often children do better on Buffalo milk as well rather
than cow's milk. The following is a comparison which identifies the
reasons.

Buffalo Milk Vs. Cow Milk

No difference in nutritive value: There is practically no difference in the
nutritive value and digestibility of milk and milk products obtained from
cow and buffalo milks.

Lower cholesterol content: Significantly, cholesterol content of buffalo
milk is 0.65 mg/g as compared to the corresponding value of 3.14 mg/g for
cow milk.

More proteins: Animal bioassays have shown the Protein Efficiency Ratio
(PER) value of buffalo milk proteins to be 2.74 and that of cow milk as
2.49. It will be seen that buffalo milk has about 11.42 per cent higher
protein than cow milk.

More important minerals: Buffalo milk is also superior to cow milk in terms
of important minerals, namely calcium, iron and phosphorus which are higher
by 92 per cent, 37.7 per cent and 118 per cent respectively than those
present in cow milk.

More vitamin A: Buffalo metabolizes all the carotene into vitamin A, which
is passed on to milk as such.