QandAs: Food

What Is Milk?

Answer:
Milk is an opaque white liquid which is produced in the mammary glands of mammals.

The liquid serves as the primary source of nutrition for mammals before their bodies are able to digest other foods.

Milk from early lactation is called colostrum and it carries antibodies from the mother to the baby. This reduces the risk of disease in the baby. The components of raw milk will vary by species, but in general, it will contain large quantities of saturated fat, protein, calcium, and vitamin C. Cattle milk is slightly acidic, with a pH range of 6.4 to 6.8. The two types of milk consumption are as a natural source of nutrition for all baby mammals, and as a food product for humans created by other species. Milk is fed to infants either directly or by extracting it and storing it for later consumption. Some cultures continue breastfeeding their children until they are seven years old.

In the Western world, humans continue to drink milk long past infancy using the milk of other animals as a food product. For thousands of years, cattle milk has been processed into other dairy products such as cream, butter, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, and cheese. Modern science has also led to the development of casein, whey protein, lactose, condensed milk, powdered milk, and other food additives. Humans are the only mammals that consume milk past infancy. The sugar lactose is found in milk. Many people are lactose intolerant.

In addition to cattle, the following animals also provide milk for human consumption: camels, donkeys, goats, horses, reindeer, sheep, water buffalo, and yaks.

In order to kill harmful bacteria, a process called pasteurization is used, in which the milk is heated for a short period of time before it is cooled for storage and transportation.