In Spanish studies with rats, which had 50% of their
distal small intestine removed by resection, simulating
the pathological condition of malabsorption syndrome,
the feeding of goat milk instead of cow milk as part
of the diet resulted in significantly higher digestibility and absorption of iron and copper, thus preventing
anemia (Barrionuevo et al., 2002). Also in these studies, the utilization of fat and weight gain was improved
with goat milk in the diet, compared to cow milk, and
levels of cholesterol were reduced, while triglyceride,
HDL, GOT and GPT values remained normal (Alferez
et al., 2001). It was concluded that the consumption of
goat milk reduces total cholesterol levels and the LDL
fraction because of the higher presence of medium
chain triglycerides (MCT) (36% in goat milk versus