Questions & Answers - Goats Milk, Lactose Levels in Goat Milk

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Question:

I am very much lactose intolerant and haven't had any cheese in forever.  I recently heard that lactose intolerant people are generally intolerant to just COW's milk and not goat's milk?  I would really appreciate any help and insight you could provide!  This would be fantastic news for a huge group of people!!! Thanks, - Rebecca (6/27/02)


 Answer: 

I not a trained nutritionist and not qualified to advise you. I did find out that goat's milk contains slightly lower levels of lactose (4.1 percent versus 4.7 percent in cow's milk), which may be a small advantage in lactose-intolerant persons.

It is thought that goat milk is more easily digested than cow's milk, mainly because goat's milk does not contain casein, the protein found in cow's milk.
 

Goat's milk cheese will have about the same amount of lactose as cow's milk cheese or sheep's milk cheese: very little. All aged cheeses are low in lactose. Substituting one for the other shouldn't make a bit of difference.