WHEN you buy a quart of milk at the market, it is
not likely that you think of it as baby food. That, of course, is
actually what it is. Nevertheless, milk has become a popular adult
food, being used in cooking and in various drinks. But is this baby
food really good for adults?
The milk you are most familiar with is, no doubt,
cow’s milk. There are countries, however, where the people are
accustomed to using milk from other types of animals. Goat’s milk, for
example, is popular in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea as
well as in Norway, Switzerland, Latin America and in parts of Asia and
Africa. In Arctic regions people use milk from horses and reindeer.
Sheep milk is popular in Spain and Italy. In India and the Philippine
Republic the use of water-buffalo milk is not uncommon, and in South
America llama milk is used.
No matter what type of milk is used, however, it
can be dangerous. Why is this? Because it is easily contaminated by
disease-producing bacteria and is an ideal medium in which they can
rapidly multiply. Diseases such as tuberculosis, undulant fever,
typhoid fever, septic sore throat, scarlet fever and diphtheria can be
spread by milk.
Safeguarding Milk
So, if you use milk, it is important that you use
only milk that is clean. When you bring it home put it in a cold place.
This is necessary so as to prevent bacteria from multiplying too
rapidly. Do not pour it into unclean containers or expose it to flies
and dust as that could introduce undesirable bacteria.
Milk companies try to protect you by sterilizing
their milk containers and by pasteurizing the milk. This is a process
in which the milk is heated to 143 degrees Fahrenheit and held there
for thirty minutes. The heat kills most of the bacteria, making the
milk relatively safe for use. However, in order to kill all of the
bacteria and spores, the milk would have to be sterilized as is done
with evaporated and condensed milk, and that requires much higher
temperatures. Many people dislike the flavor of sterilized milk.
Some persons have objections to pasteurized milk
because the heat used in pasteurizing it decreases the amount of
vitamin C and vitamin B1 in the milk and destroys the useful lactic
acid bacteria. As much as 15 percent of the vitamin-B1 content is
destroyed by the heat. Raw milk, on the other hand, may have the
vitamins, but it also has a greater potential for carrying dangerous
bacteria. Extra care is required to make it safe.
Although milk is not a perfect food, it is a most
complete food. It contains about fifty different substances. There are,
however, several elements necessary for growth that are lacking in
milk, such as copper, iron, iodine and manganese.
When comparing human milk with cow’s milk a
pronounced difference can be noted. Human milk has two or three times
as much vitamin C as cow’s milk. It also has one and a half times as
much milk sugar. On the other hand, cow’s milk contains more casein and
ash. This is a factor to consider when feeding an infant.
Even when cow’s milk has been altered by adding
more milk sugar, it still is no substitute for human milk. Cane sugar
is not the same as milk sugar, thus the use of cane sugar does not
really bring the sugar content of cow’s milk closer to that of human
milk. The needs of a baby are best met by human milk, not cow’s milk.
Also, when fed from the breast a baby gets the full value of the
vitamin C in the milk because the milk is not exposed to air, which
causes this vitamin to be destroyed by oxidation.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/
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