Goat’s milk has been approved as a base for infant formula for more than ten years, and since goat’s milk and cow’s milk have different properties, they are known to have different effects on infants’ digestion; as a result, infants may tolerate one type of milk better than the other and, therefore, prefer it. However, no studies had been conducted on infants’ preference for goat’s milk-based or cow’s milk-based formula until the first such study was published in 2023*.
In this study, researchers found that children who drank goat-milk-based formula had a better response to food, and the quality of life for both the baby and the family improved.
Let’s take a look at how this study was conducted. It was conducted in France at several private pediatric clinics. The researchers designed a study in which infants were fed GMF (goat-milk-based formula) or CMF (cow-milk-based formula) nutritionally equivalent. Neither the parents nor the doctors knew during the study what type of formula the children were drinking, since the containers were identical and unlabeled. The participating infants were healthy babies under 4 months of age, with no chronic illnesses, and fed predominantly infant formula. Each infant participated for one month, and at the end of their participation, their parents completed questionnaires regarding various aspects of the infant’s feeding and comfort, rating each of the areas covered in the questions.
At the end of the study, the results obtained by the groups were compared. Thus, it was found that infants fed GMF had higher scores in all aspects evaluated from the beginning to the end of the study (enjoyment of food, response to the food, slowness in eating, satiety response, and general appetite), although, compared to infants fed CMF, higher scores were observed only in the areas of positive reponse to the food and general appetite..
Regarding quality of life, children fed GMF experienced a significant improvement of more than 4.5 points from the start of the study (see Figure 1), while children fed CMF had a slightly lower score.
Figure 1: Formula-fed infants experienced a significative improvement in quality of life from baseline when switched to whole goat milk formula
Figure 2: Formula-fed infants experienced a significative improvement in quality of life from baseline when switched to whole goat milk formula
During the study, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of the infants’ growth and weight gain. Furthermore, no milk-related side effects occurred in either group.
This study has several limitations: first, the researchers had difficulty recruiting the desired number of children due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This also led to the loss of follow-up for some children. The CMF used in the study was based on whole milk rather than skim milk, which is the norm, so this may have altered the children’s taste preferences regarding it.
In conclusion, infants fed whole-milk-based GMF showed a better response to food and a higher quality of life than those fed CMF. Furthermore, although differences in preference for the various formulas were not conclusive, there was a tendency to prefer GMF.
The results of this study lead us to believe that formulas made from whole goat’s milk, such as DANALAC Goat, improve babies’ appetite and the quality of life for the entire family, as infants show a better response to the food and a preference for this formula over others they could have tried.
*Jung, C.; et al. Whole Goat Milk-Based Formula versus Whey-Based Cow Milk Formula: What Formula Do Infants Enjoy More?—A Feasibility, Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients 2023, 15, 4057. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/nu15184057
