# You can get a disease from goat milk, apparently



## Mama Poot (Jun 12, 2006)

So today my 2 year old had his yearly checkup, with a new doctor. In talking about his history I told him that we gave Paddy goat's milk during the time he had a cow's milk protein allergy. The doctor turns to a student assistant and asks him if he knows the name of the disease people get from drinking cow's milk. The student didn't know, and I had never heard any such thing myself. But the doctor claimed that people who drink goat's milk get this disease because of a lack of a vitamin in the milk. I thought the whole thing was ridiculous (my DH's late grandfather ran the largest dairy goat operation in the United States. His family carries it on ) So understandably I'm finding the whole thing amusing. I also thought it was very telling of this doctor's attitude toward anything 'alternative'. So what on earth was this guy talking about, if anything?


----------



## fek&fuzz (Jun 19, 2005)

hmm, it must be that mysterious goat milk drinking disease. so mysterious in fact that the dr. didn't even know the name of it, or what caused it - other than the milk of a goat.


----------



## VikingKvinna (Dec 31, 2003)

That doesn't make any sense. A lack of vitamin, in comparison to what? You can get plenty of the vitamin by NOT drinking goat's milk?









But the big question is, does your DS have this mysterious disease?


----------



## JElaineB (Nov 12, 2005)

Maybe he was referering to "goat's milk anemia" because goat's milk is low in vitamin B12 (and folic acid). It used to be a problem when goat's milk was used more as an infant formula (1920's and 30's). For a child now who is getting other sources of B12 I doubt it is an issue.

Article from 1935: http://ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/.../113/2/279.pdf

Info from Dr. Sears: http://askdrsears.com/html/3/t032400.asp


----------



## VikingKvinna (Dec 31, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JElaineB* 
Maybe he was referering to "goat's milk anemia" because goat's milk is low in vitamin B12 (and folic acid). It used to be a problem when goat's milk was used more as an infant formula (1920's and 30's). For a child now who is getting other sources of B12 I doubt it is an issue.

Article from 1935: http://ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/.../113/2/279.pdf

Info from Dr. Sears: http://askdrsears.com/html/3/t032400.asp

Wow, nice to know that that dr. is in step with the times...Mama Poot, if he recommends a lobotomy or using leeches to cure your child, get a second opinion!


----------



## JElaineB (Nov 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *VikingKvinna* 
Wow, nice to know that that dr. is in step with the times...Mama Poot, if he recommends a lobotomy or using leeches to cure your child, get a second opinion!









Maybe he was just testing the med student? ...it could still be an issue if a parent fed an infant goat's milk only with no vitamin supplementation, as per the Dr. Sears info.

Medical use of leeches has recently made a comeback as well, for certain scenarios!


----------



## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Yes, it is a form of anemia, but there are plenty of other sources to get B12, so why is he worrying?


----------



## Mama Poot (Jun 12, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JElaineB* 
Maybe he was just testing the med student? ...it could still be an issue if a parent fed an infant goat's milk only with no vitamin supplementation, as per the Dr. Sears info.

Medical use of leeches has recently made a comeback as well, for certain scenarios!









He WAS testing the med student. He even told him "C'mon man you gotta know this, this will be on the boards!" And anyways, my son was over a year old when we gave him goat's milk and it only lasted 3 months because we couldn't afford it after that!


----------



## Laggie (Nov 2, 2005)

Maybe rickets? Because there is vitamin A or D or something added to cow's milk that they don't add to goat's milk.

Yep, I'm obviously guessing. No clue.


----------



## mom de terre (Mar 9, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *VikingKvinna* 
Wow, nice to know that that dr. is in step with the times...Mama Poot, if he recommends a lobotomy or using leeches to cure your child, get a second opinion!

















:


----------



## BusyBeeMom (May 15, 2005)

Interesting. When I saw the thread, I was thinking unpasteurized milk. My grandmother got TB from unpasteurized milk (but cow's milk I think) and had to have a kidney removed b/c of it. She did recover though (this was pre-antibiotics).


----------



## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

Meyenberg goat milk (powdered, canned, and ultra-paturized liquid milk) is fortified with vitamin D and folic acid. Goat's milk is lower in folic acid than cow's milk- but folic acid can also be found in leafy veggies, organ meats, nutritional yeast, etc.

Hmm. Cows eat lots of green grass, and goats eat a lot of wood and very little green stuff. I wonder if that's why goat's milk is lower in folic acid (ie goats need less folate than cows do.)


----------



## BusyBeeMom (May 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mama Poot* 
He WAS testing the med student. He even told him "C'mon man you gotta know this, this will be on the boards!" And anyways, my son was over a year old when we gave him goat's milk and it only lasted 3 months because we couldn't afford it after that!

And though others are making fun of the doctor, I think this is totally appropriate. A physician in the making SHOULD know about these conditions, even if they're not very common today. A doctor needs to be able to recognize oddball conditions she sees, and this also reinforces, on some level, that a diet of the milk of another mammal is not complete for human babies.


----------



## JElaineB (Nov 12, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BusyBeeMom* 
And though others are making fun of the doctor, I think this is totally appropriate. A physician in the making SHOULD know about these conditions, even if they're not very common today. A doctor needs to be able to recognize oddball conditions she sees, and this also reinforces, on some level, that a diet of the milk of another mammal is not complete for human babies.









:

That's the point I was trying to make. Although DS's doctor is in a large academic medical center and I have never heard a staff physician blatanly test a resident or med student in front of us. So I don't think it is wholly appropriate that they did it, but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the doctor was saying it was improper for the OP's child to have had goat's milk.


----------



## BusyBeeMom (May 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *JElaineB* 







:

That's the point I was trying to make. Although DS's doctor is in a large academic medical center and I have never heard a staff physician blatanly test a resident or med student in front of us. So I don't think it is wholly appropriate that they did it, but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the doctor was saying it was improper for the OP's child to have had goat's milk.

Totally agree.

I've been the "interesting case" for med students (when I was getting rabies shots)! It's definitely not a perfect system, but I think that what is practical is that it is often done in the presence of a patient simply b/c of time pressures. I have also been on the "student" end of the same scenario. There's very much a hands-on learning MO in medicine, "see one, do one, teach one" so the training is very patient-based, as it were.


----------



## marilynmama (Oct 20, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BusyBeeMom* 
And though others are making fun of the doctor, I think this is totally appropriate. A physician in the making SHOULD know about these conditions, even if they're not very common today. A doctor needs to be able to recognize oddball conditions she sees, and this also reinforces, on some level, that a diet of the milk of another mammal is not complete for human babies.











I work in a large university hospital in an ICU. This is just how things are done, this is how we, as students, learn. And you learn when you work with real patients, not with books, computers, etc.

I see things that most people in the world never see, I work with patients who have those one in a million diseases/conditions/accidents/etc _every single day_.


----------



## marilynmama (Oct 20, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *VikingKvinna* 
Wow, nice to know that that dr. is in step with the times...Mama Poot, if he recommends a lobotomy or using leeches to cure your child, get a second opinion!









I work in a large PICU and would simple wouldn't believe the things parents do though. It would literally shock the socks off you. I've seen a gazillion parents feed their newborns nothing but skim milk and then they wonder why their child is sick and not growing, put their children to sleep every _single_ night (literally) with benadryl, the list goes on and on.

Maybe not a lobotomy but shock treatments are now being used with great success and medical leeches and maggots actually do work


----------



## hlkm2e (Aug 24, 2004)

There is some disorder you can get from goat's milk. My dh was just talking about it. He is a hemotologist and one of his patients was suspected of having it. I can't remember the name, it's pretty rare. I'll have to ask him about it.


----------



## texaspeach (Jun 19, 2005)

pernicious anemia?


----------



## hlkm2e (Aug 24, 2004)

no, it was something infectious I think. And had a stranger name.


----------



## AJP (Apr 30, 2003)

Brucellosis, or undulant fever, is infectious, and can be passed through milk (so they say). That wouldn't be what the doctor the OP was talking about was referring to, though.


----------



## hlkm2e (Aug 24, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AJP* 
Brucellosis, or undulant fever, is infectious, and can be passed through milk (so they say). That wouldn't be what the doctor the OP was talking about was referring to, though.

That was it! I know nothing about it or medical stuff in general, I just remember having a conversation about a patient who was drinking goats milk


----------



## HealthCareQueen (Dec 30, 2007)

the doctor knows what he's talking about, google MILK DANGERS and you'll get all the details, humans are not supposed to be drinking milk from animals!!! when will people come to realize that!


----------



## frogguruami (Sep 21, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Laggie* 
Maybe rickets? Because there is vitamin A or D or something added to cow's milk that they don't add to goat's milk.

Yep, I'm obviously guessing. No clue.

This is what I was thinking also. The body needs exposure to sun light to produce Vit D. Vit D is added to milk to prevent Rickets. It is likely not added to goat's milk. I think 15 minutes sun exposure each day (It is probably less, especially if you live in a southern climate) is all an adult needs.

What ever it is, it can't be that common or the doc would be able to remember the name of it! LOL


----------



## Equuskia (Dec 16, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HealthCareQueen* 
the doctor knows what he's talking about, google MILK DANGERS and you'll get all the details, humans are not supposed to be drinking milk from animals!!! when will people come to realize that!

Actually, humans are not supposed to be drinking pasteurized, homogenized milk from rgh and antibiotic injected, pesticide laden animals fed GM, pesticide and herbicide treated grains in tiny cramped, dirty and frankly unsanitary feedlots which induce disease, lameness and mastitis. Humans have enjoyed raw milk, cheese and other diary products from clean, well-fed, pastured cows, sheep, goats, camels, reindeer and other dairy animals for millennia.


----------



## MrsMike (Aug 4, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Equuskia* 
Actually, humans are not supposed to be drinking pasteurized, homogenized milk from rgh and antibiotic injected, pesticide laden animals fed GM, pesticide and herbicide treated grains in tiny cramped, dirty and frankly unsanitary feedlots which induce disease, lameness and mastitis. Humans have enjoyed raw milk, cheese and other diary products from clean, well-fed, pastured cows, sheep, goats, camels, reindeer and other dairy animals for millennia.

And if you live in PA, the above will not be allowed to be mentioned on milk labels come February. It's "unfair" to farmers who do use rBGH, antibiotics and all those other nasties, according to whoever the nimwit is that wants labelling changed.

Oh, and I'd like to add my support for medicinal leeches and maggots. Amazing little critters.


----------



## HappiLeigh (Mar 30, 2005)

My SIL drank unpasteurized goat's milk (from her own goat) during her pregnancy, but her doctor recommended that she quit until she made sure she already was immune to toxoplasmosis (which is also the disease that keeps pregnant mamas away from cat litter boxes). SIL got the test and discovered that she had NOT had toxoplasmosis, so she quit drinking fresh goat's milk for the duration of her pregnancy. This would only be a concern for a pregnant mama, though, and only if the milk is unpasteurized.


----------



## BusyBeeMom (May 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HappiLeigh* 
My SIL drank unpasteurized goat's milk (from her own goat) during her pregnancy, but her doctor recommended that she quit until she made sure she already was immune to toxoplasmosis (which is also the disease that keeps pregnant mamas away from cat litter boxes). SIL got the test and discovered that she had NOT had toxoplasmosis, so she quit drinking fresh goat's milk for the duration of her pregnancy. This would only be a concern for a pregnant mama, though, and only if the milk is unpasteurized.

Huh, who knew? BTW, my grandmother got tuberculosis from unpasteurized milk. I think it was cow's milk, don't know if goats get a form of TB that can be transmitted to humans. (She survived, but did have to have a kidney removed. Occasionally TB manifests itself in the kidneys).


----------



## TimeToHeal (Oct 4, 2017)

I have personally become ill multiple times from Meyenberg's goat milk / Meyenberg goat milk (refrigerated, full fat, purple-pink and white printed cardboard containers). The cardboard containers are frequently (as in every week or every other week) 'puffed out' in the grocery store, before the the expiration date.

I kept trying it as there was no other source I knew of. I have now given up on it as I believe disease is likely from it -- a pathogen or contaminant or whatever is in their milk that is getting me ill (it is not every carton that does this, and I never, ever drink from a 'puffy'-looking carton) could damage my health worse than the horrid experience of being poisoned every few months from the stuff (it's happened 6 times in 1.5 years).

This was what I read about Meyenberg's in another forum. It seems to explain why I see the puffiness and why Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and other places I've bought it from continue to get puffy and toxic product from them. Internet search these words to see the source of the quote:

"I can't drink the stuff. That brand was the first goats milk I had ever tried and I nearly puked. It turned me off goats for years. After tasting some raw goat milk I decided goats weren't so bad. And now I love them and their milk.

Having been in and around commercial dairy goat farms I can tell you some of the many reasons the milk taste so different from the milk you will get from a backyard farm.

#1 . Over pasteurization. They cook the heck out of it.
#2 . Mastitis. Many of the farms do not treat mastitis until it gets bad or sometimes not at all unless the goat is bleeding into the milk. 
#3 . Heavy use of Swiss breeds. Many Toggenburg and some Alpines have strong milk.
#4 . Deficiencies. Many animals just can't get what they need out of a one size fits all mineral.
#5 . Dirty conditions. You simply can't keep a pen clean enough when you have hundreds of goats in it.
#6 . They are unhappy. A stressed goat isn't going to give you its best.

I have seen one time where one of the does teats rotted off and the whole half of the udder was on its way out but they still milked the other side since it wasn't bleeding or spitting chunks into the milk. You could smell it from feet away. That's not going to make the batch of milk taste good I can tell you that much. As long as the cell counts in the bulk tank are low enough and there is no contaminants in the pasteurized milk they are A-Ok to sell."


----------

