Goats’ milk isn’t just perfect for kids - it's great for children too

9:27am Wednesday 6th August 2008

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HOW can a goat help a child with eczema and a grandmother with an irritable bowel? No, this is not a joke but if it was, the punchline would be the health benefits of goats’ milk.

Ben Lancaster, aged five, of Darwin Close, Kempsey, near Worcester, has eczema and a rare skin condition called urticaria pigmentosa that can affect the neck, arms, legs and trunk of children and young adults.

The rash consists of reddish-brown spots that turn into hives when they are rubbed hard or scratched and sometimes blister.

For most children who develop urticaria pigmentosa before the age of five, the condition will fade by adolescence or early adulthood.

His mum Helen Lancaster, aged 35, searched for a treatment that could help her son and someone at the hospital suggested she give him goats’ milk.

Helen said: “I haven’t a clue why it makes things better – there’s just something in goats’ milk. It caused a change almost straight away. He had this burning red eczema – this just seemed to calm it down so it wasn’t as angry. I was very surprised by the results. I wasn’t sure it was going to work.”

Not content with simply helping her son, she suggested her 65-yearold mum Anne Reynolds, who has irritable bowel syndrome, try goats’ milk too as it is supposed to help with digestion.

She wasn’t keen and thought the idea of drinking goats’ milk was “disgusting”.

Many people make the mistake of thinking goats’ milk will taste strong or unpleasant – in reality it is slightly sweet and salty.

Helen decided to put goats’ milk in her mum’s tea anyway and she didn’t notice the difference until she decided to tell her.

She may have got a shock at the time but at least she can say her digestion has improved.

Goats’ milk has also helped Helen’s two-year-old daughter Katie, who also has eczema.

She said: “ I noticed after only a few days the improvement in Ben’s skin so I decided to try it on Katie. I have also persuaded my mum to try goats’ milk to improve her digestion.

Since switching a few months ago she hasn’t looked back and hardly ever suffers with poor digestion.”

Ben and Katie have now been chosen as the faces of a campaign called Thank Goodness for Goats which stresses the health benefits of switching from cows’ to goats’ milk.

The pair will now feature on the side of St Helen’s Farm milk carton packaging.

The 550-acre farm in Barmby on the Marsh in East Yorkshire has more than 3,500 goats who supply supermarkets across the country on a daily basis.

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT GOATS' MILK

● Goats’ milk is now available in many supermarkets and is even packaged in a similar way to cow milk.

● Its smell is not dissimilar to a pint of semi-skimmed and in appearance it would be very hard to differentiate. There’s a certain fullness in the taste, but it’s nowhere near as powerfully different as goats’ cheese is to cow’s cheese.

● Many people with cows’ milk allergies can drink goats’ milk because it contains a different kind of protein.

Goats’ milk has 13 per cent less lactose than cows’ milk and 41 per cent less than human milk.

● Goats’ milk fatty acids have a unique metabolic ability to limit cholesterol deposits in body tissues.

● Goats’ milk contains less than 10 percent of the amount of folic acid contained in cows’ milk which means that it must be supplemented with folic acid in order to be adequate as a formula or milk substitute for infants and toddlers, and popular brands of goats’ milk may advertise “supplemented with folic acid” on the carton