1. Facilities for Using the Mare’s Milk in Human Nutrition – A Review

Based on the results of the research work and the data of the scientific literature, the authors compare the composition of the mother’s milk, mare’s milk and cow’s milk, and indicate the favourable use of mare’s milk in the nutrition of infants, small children, adults and elderly people in their publication. During this they determine that the fat content and the fatty acid composition of the mother’s milk and mare’s milk, especially the essential linoleic and semiessential linolenic acid content of the milk fat, show a good correspondence, and both differ a lot from the composition of cow’s milk, which is rich in short chain and saturated fatty acids. Considering protein content, protein fractions and amino acid composition of the milk protein, there is a good conformity between the mother’s milk and mare’s milk, although the whey protein content of the mother’s milk is higher, while the casein content is lower than that of mare’s milk. The main protein fraction of the cow’s milk is the casein, therefore its biological value, calculated from the amino acid composition of the protein, is essentially lower, than that of mother’s milk and mare’s milk protein. They draw the attention to the high NPN content of the mother’s milk, and for the significance of its free amino acids, peptides and amino acid derivatives (taurine). They emphasize, that those who are allergic for cow’s milk protein can consume the mare’s milk easily, and due to the great similarity, the nutrition of the infants, if it is necessary, is more simple with mare’s milk than cow’s milk. The lactose content of both the mother’s milk and the mare’s milk is higher than cow’s milk, which, in the case of cow’s milk based feeding, one has to be aware of. There is also a great similarity considering the mineral composition of the mother’s milk and mare’s milk, and both contain essentially less micro- and macro-elements, than cow’s milk. At the end of the publication they analyse the possible role of the mare’s milk in the nutrition of people of different ages, and review the possibilities of such products made from mare’s milk, like condensed milk, milk powder and kumis, in human nutrition.

DOI:

Hungarian Dairy Journal. 2018. 75 (1) 3-27.