Reacting to goat milk but not cow milk?

[Aaron275]

Yesterday I used some goat milk in the morning and I reacted to it. I felt awful for the whole day - bloating, stomach cramps, fatigue, etc. I also had something similar happen when I tried goat cheese several weeks ago.

I can find almost no information on this. Almost everything online seems to point towards goat milk being a healthier option than cow milk. But I've used cow milk (and cow cheese) every day for years and have never had a problem with it. I do much better with cow milk than with any of the substitutes I've tried, and I've tried a lot of them.

Has anyone heard of this intolerance before?

[Heather Shade]

10 hours ago, Aaron275 said:

Yesterday I used some goat milk in the morning and I reacted to it. I felt awful for the whole day - bloating, stomach cramps, fatigue, etc. I also had something similar happen when I tried goat cheese several weeks ago.

I can find almost no information on this. Almost everything online seems to point towards goat milk being a healthier option than cow milk. But I've used cow milk (and cow cheese) every day for years and have never had a problem with it. I do much better with cow milk than with any of the substitutes I've tried, and I've tried a lot of them.

Has anyone heard of this intolerance before?

Goats have different proteins than cows. Proteins in milk that cause the most problems are called casein. People with celiac are known to have issues with casein (not all people, not all caseins). I’m assuming you are having problems digesting the casein in the goats milk.

[Scott Adams]

Yes, and many people who have casein issues can often tolerate sheep's or goat's milk as an alternative, which I turned to for a couple of years after my diagnosis. Likewise I had to switch to duck instead of chicken eggs. After a couple of years gluten-free those additional intolerance issues faded away, although I still stick to duck eggs most of the time.

[Aaron275]

On 4/13/2022 at 7:37 AM, Scott Adams said:

Yes, and many people who have casein issues can often tolerate sheep's or goat's milk as an alternative, which I turned to for a couple of years after my diagnosis. Likewise I had to switch to duck instead of chicken eggs. After a couple of years gluten-free those additional intolerance issues faded away, although I still stick to duck eggs most of the time.

It's the other way around. I'm having an issue with goat's milk, not cow's milk.

I seem to tolerate cow's milk just fine.

I haven't tried sheep's milk or duck eggs.

[Scott Adams]

For you this is a good thing, as goat's milk and associated products are fairly uncommon in comparison with cow's milk products.

[Aaron275]

2 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

For you this is a good thing, as goat's milk and associated products are fairly uncommon in comparison with cow's milk products.

Good point, I hadn't looked at it that way before.

The reason I wanted to try goat's milk instead of cow's milk is because I am still dealing with some symptoms, and I read that goat's milk is less inflammatory than cow's milk so I was hoping that it might help my symptoms by reducing inflammation. But like I said the cow's milk doesn't cause any noticeable issues when I use it, so maybe it isn't that much of a problem.