Milk fat content: main indicators and factors influencing this criterion

In this article we will tell you:

1. Basic indicators of milk fat content
2. Factors affecting the fat content of cow's milk
3. Relative and general indicator of milk fat content in a cow
4. Nutrition standards, consumption of milk and dairy products
5. The benefits of full fat milk

The fat content of milk is one of the main parameters that the buyer focuses on. The taste and consistency depend on it. For the manufacturer, this is also a very important parameter that determines the quantity and quality of dairy derivatives such as cream and butter.

Various factors influence the fat content of milk. There are few of them, but each one needs to be taken into account. In addition, the relative and overall fat content is important during production. How healthy is high fat content of milk, what does it depend on and how can it be increased, read in our material.

Composition of milk

Milk is almost 90% water, while the remaining 10% eliminates the watery taste and the presence of milk sugar. This product has this property due to the phosphatides and proteins it contains. If you conduct a small experiment - put a bag of this product in the freezer, let it freeze, and then put it to thaw, a slight taste of sweetness will be immediately felt. This occurs due to the loss of connection between lactose and proteins.

Cow's milk protein contains: casein, albumin, globulin

The protein contained in cow's milk is expressed in several components:

• in casein. The casein content predominates - this figure is 82%. When lactic acid is formed, casein breaks down, causing the product to coagulate;
• in albumin. As for albumin, its content can be noticed after the milk is subjected to heat treatment - a white precipitate can be seen at the bottom of the pan;
• in globulin. The lightest component is fat; in the product it has the form of small balls.

How beneficial is this drink for our body?

The problem of milk consumption is associated with new scientific research data, which talks about the accumulated evidence of harm caused to health by this product.

The campaign against cow's milk could lead to a decline in the population, which had already declined significantly in the 1990s.

Many doctors associate it with a variety of medical problems. However, there are no fewer scientific and medical facts that support the general concept of the usefulness of this product.

Lactase enzyme deficiency

The absorption of food is determined by the synthesis of certain enzymes, the presence of which is determined at the RNA level and arose as a result of the adaptive reactions of the human body associated with traditional dietary habits. The lactase enzyme is responsible for the digestion of milk, a deficiency of which was found in 15% of Russians, almost 100% of those living in Siberia, 6% of Ukrainians, and on average 25% of Europeans. The absence or deficiency of lactase leads to disruption of the digestion process of dairy products in the gastrointestinal tract.

Lactase deficiency does not exist as a medical diagnosis

This enzyme helps process sugar. Problems with milk digestion can be detected even in infancy during breastfeeding. Lactase deficiency can be treated with enzymes. Children are prescribed Lactase Baby, the drug helps cope with feeding problems. Adults can also undergo enzyme therapy.

The value of a glass of milk

Lactase deficiency is classified into several types:

• primary – when the production of the enzyme is reduced, but when the cells that produce it (enterocytes) are not damaged;
• transient - when the production of enzymes is associated with defects in fetal development, typical for premature babies;
• secondary – with damaged enterocytes, these cells can be damaged during inflammatory processes in the intestines of various natures. Cell synthesis can be restored after treatment.

The causes of lactase deficiency in children and adults are usually different

If for residents of Siberia the deficiency is associated with the lack of cow's milk in the diet, then for residents of “prosperous” dairy regions it is a question of damage to enterocytes by an infectious process - parasitic, infectious in nature and/or dysbacteriosis. If the restoration of enterocytes can be secondary, then the restoration of immunoactive cells (of which about 80% of the total number is located in the intestine) cannot be ignored.

Africans have a lean physique due to a lack of protein foods

It is worth noting that lactase deficiency is typical for 90% of Latin Americans, 95% of Africans and 25% of Europeans. It is often associated with genetic factors and the processes of human maturation. Also, in some cases, part of this enzyme can be removed from a store product, since dietary supplements and medicines are produced on its basis.

Harm or benefit of beef (milk) fat

Milk or beef fat is assessed by medicine as one of the most harmful, leading to clogging of blood vessels with cholesterol plaques.

The problem of atherosclerosis is not as superficial as some experts want to present it. It is classified as a disease characteristic of modern humans, associated with several factors:

• with inflammatory processes in vessels of an infectious nature, “detaining” cholesterol as a result of decreased tone and impaired blood circulation in the vessels;
• with direct deposition of cholesterol on the walls;
• with a lifestyle disorder and, as a result, a decrease in the intensity of blood circulation, which also leads to excessive deposition of cholesterol on the walls during periods of local lipid imbalance.

Cholesterol on the walls of the vessel

Experts emphasize that cholesterol is an important chemical element, a kind of energy source for cells of the immune and nervous system, and is also involved in muscle metabolism. It is not a by-product or a harmful product.

Dairy products are a source of high-energy fats that the body needs, but with a systematic lack of plant components in the diet, the balance of lipoproteins is disrupted. The body has redundant mechanisms to combat deposits on the walls of blood vessels: with intense blood circulation, which occurs during intense work, movement, running, and also when visiting a Russian bath. From this we can conclude that atherosclerosis is not associated with milk fat, but with lifestyle and nutritional deficiencies leading to an imbalance of lipoproteins.

Types of fat content

It is customary to distinguish several types of cow's milk depending on the percentage of fat content. This indicator is of great importance for various types of nutrition; it is for this reason that fat content is treated with special attention. There are 5 categories of milk fat content:

• 0 to 1% is a low-fat product. It is used by people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• 1-2% - low fat content. A product with this percentage of fat is the most popular;
• about 3.5% - this is the fat content of fresh milk;
• from 4.5 to 6% - high fat content. Not all breeds of cows produce such milk;
• 10% is the maximum fat content of milk; this percentage is mainly found in food cream.

It’s easy to choose the required fat content of cow’s milk from 5 categories, so everyone can choose a product for their own purposes. Low-fat cow's milk can be replaced with goat's milk if a person tolerates it well. For example, many patients may need milk with high fat content to restore strength.

The percentage of fat content in natural goat milk starts at approximately 4%. The main advantage of goat's milk is that it is easier to digest. The highest fat content can reach 9% - some breeds of goats can produce such milk, subject to good feeding and care.

Contraindications

Lactose is not fully absorbed by every body, and its individual intolerance becomes a contraindication to drinking cow's milk.
Lactose favors the formation of a putrefactive environment and sometimes causes digestive problems. The chemical composition of milk becomes depleted when boiled, but in its fresh form it is contraindicated for infants due to contamination with bacteria.

Milk is contraindicated for people with salt deposits in blood vessels

For diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, and pancreas, it is worth replacing the consumption of fresh products with fermented milk.

Factors affecting the percentage of fat in cow's milk

Homemade cow's milk contains about 3.5% fat content. This indicator is considered average for different cows. The fat percentage of whole milk can vary due to a number of factors. The indicator may be influenced by:

1. breed of cow;
2. conditions of detention;
3. heredity;
4. quality of feeding;
5. age of the cow;
6. animal grazing time;
7. availability of fertilizing;
8. climatic conditions;
9. number of calvings;
10. the amount of milk received.

Before buying a cow, every buyer is concerned with the question of what milk fat it produces. And if the product is not high in fat, then you should think twice before making such a purchase. It is possible that the animal is sick, or the low fat content in milk may be due to heredity.

Red Danish cow

Genetics

Genetics plays a major role in the quality of a product. For a long time, breeders have been carrying out large-scale work to develop a breed of cow that will produce high milk yield with a high fat content.

The end result of their labors was the following breeds of cows:

• Jersey. This breed produces milk with an indicator of 14%, the average figure is 5%. However, they do not produce milk in large quantities;
• Red Danish. The milk fat percentage of this breed is 5.1%;
• Simmentalskaya. The fat content of this breed is 4.85%.

Nutrition

The quality of milk has a direct relationship with the feed. The correct diet has a direct impact on the amount of milk yield and the taste of the product.

Fat content can be increased if the animal eats:

• hay in sufficient quantities;
• food high in fiber and light carbohydrates;
• vitamins - zinc, calcium, vitamin E, phosphorus, vitamin A.

In the warm season, animals must be grazed. The increase in milk yield and the percentage of fat content will increase due to the abundance of plant foods.

It is problematic to provide a cow with fresh grass during the cold season. However, high-quality hay, when properly stored, can fill this gap to some extent.

Age

It is known that the percentage of fat content increases with each subsequent calving and reaches its peak at the 6th calf. In young cows this figure will be higher than in old cows. Milking the cow, which will be carried out after each next calving, will increase the amount of milk , but the fat content will decrease.

Content

If you adhere to the basic rules of feeding, provide a sufficient amount of vitamins and microelements, and also create conditions for keeping the cow in a dry and ventilated paddock, then we can say that there are all the conditions for obtaining a large amount of milk yield.

Jersey breed

What is the average milk yield from one cow?

Find out how much milk a cow gives per day.

This depends on a number of factors:

Organization of care - daily grazing and proper milking of the cow are very important. Nutritional features. High-quality feed costs a lot, but if the cow is malnourished, the amount of milk will decrease significantly. The average daily requirement of an adult dairy cow is from 75 kg of feed

Expensive, but the result is worth the cost

Care and love - it is important for every creature to know that they are loved, then productivity increases. Hereditary factor - if the heifer's mother gave a little milk, but it is foolish to hope that the cow will suddenly start producing 20 liters a day

A certain amount of lactose production is determined at the genetic level, so even with the best feeding and care, serious changes in the indicator cannot be expected. Calving

The more times a cow calves, the more milk she produces. Animal breed. The milk productivity of cattle varies depending on the breed: dairy, meat and dairy and beef. Accordingly, more milk yield will be obtained from dairy breeds. Young heifers produce little milk, unlike older ones. The largest amount can be obtained after the fifth calving. However, as the animal ages, the daily displacement will decrease.

A cow produces milk throughout her life, starting with her first calving. How long this will last is up to each farmer to decide for himself.

For obvious reasons, livestock productivity increases after birth until the next pregnancy. According to statistics, the average milk yield of a cow per day is from 10 to 20 liters. Individuals of dairy breeds, with proper care and diet, produce from 60 to 115 liters per day.

Monthly rate

The leaders in milk yield are the USA and Israel. There, the average annual milk yield ranges from 8.5 to 13 thousand liters per individual. Dairy breeds are capable of producing between 5,000 and 30,000 per year.

To understand how much production can be obtained from a cow in 365 days, you need to know what conditions will affect productivity and in what ways it can be increased. The factors responsible for milk production are as follows:

1. Genetic breed characteristics. The cow must be of the dairy type.
2. Age and weight categories. After the fifth calf is born, performance reaches its peak.
3. A properly formulated diet, in which the obligatory components are: hay, grain feed, compound feed, vitamin and mineral complexes.
4. The animal must be healthy and regularly examined by a veterinarian.
5. Correct milking process. Good milk production also depends on how the process itself is carried out. After insemination, it is necessary to gradually reduce the number of milkings. Receiving milk from a cow completely stops at the moment when no more than 500 ml per day is received from it. After the calf appears, gradual work begins on milking the cow, and the resulting colostrum is fed to the baby. To increase the amount of milk production, milking three times a day is recommended.
6. Cows must be properly cared for.
7. Seasonality of calving. Cows that gave birth in the winter months produce 10% more dairy products than cows that calve in the spring or summer.

Burenki produce milk products throughout almost their entire life. But the average will change over time. More detailed information on daily, monthly and annual indicators will be provided below.

The highest numbers are observed between the previous calving and the next pregnancy. A cow receives up to 20 liters of dairy products per day. If we proceed from data obtained several years ago, we can notice the dependence of the amount of milk on the region where it is kept, which means that this factor cannot be discounted.

This amount is calculated from daily milk yield. If the indicator is 10 liters, then in 7 days the cow will produce 70, respectively.

Monthly milk yield

The best foreign dairy producers produce 8 or more thousand liters of dairy products per cow. In our country, such calculations are not actually carried out, and therefore everything depends on what kind of care is provided to the animals and how correctly their diet is composed.

In the cold season, there is a decrease in productivity, which is due to the lack of a number of feeds. This can be influenced by providing the animals with large quantities of succulent food, mandatory walks and plenty of watering. The average milk yield during the winter is 20 liters per day.

A few words about world milk yields

Relative and total fat

The quality of milk is characterized by the relative fat content, which is measured as a percentage. The highest figure belongs to Jersey cows – 14%. But if we take into account the fact that such a breed does not produce large volumes of milk, then the percentage of fat content for the entire lactation period will be no more than 700 kg.

It is also customary to highlight the total fat content - it shows the total fat content in milk in kilograms.

The record holder for fat content is Holstein cattle - more than 1 ton of fat can be obtained from one animal. However, the relative figure is low - only 3.3-3.8%.

Video “Dairy Product Quality Analyzer”

This video will introduce you to a device that can be used to determine the composition and quality of a dairy product.

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Methods for determining fat content

In order to determine the amount of fat in milk, laboratory analysis will be required. Without using it, you can find out about the fat content approximately.

Video testing of dairy products in the laboratory

How to determine fat content at home

You can check the fat content of cow's milk at home. To do this, you need to take a glass and fill it with milk to 10 cm, then leave it at room temperature for 8 hours. After this time, you only need to measure the amount of cream formed with a ruler - 1 cm = 10%, 1 mm = 1%. This method cannot be called accurate, because the amount of fat component can be determined approximately.

Video checking dairy products at home

Description of the technique

To independently determine the fat content of breast milk, a young mother needs to stock up on a ruler, test tube and marker in advance.
Next, follow these steps: Taking a pre-washed test tube, measure a distance of 10 cm from the bottom on it. This distance must be marked with a marker, preferably black; After this, the young mother should pour expressed breast milk into the test tube. It must be remembered that to evaluate and obtain a reliable result, you need to use the rear portion of mother's milk. Measuring fat content in foremilk is inappropriate, since this portion of milk does not normally contain an increased amount of fat; The test tube is installed in a vertical position using a special stand or tripod. In this position, the container is kept for 7 hours at room temperature. The tube is not closed; After the milk has settled, a creamy layer forms in it, which must be measured using a ruler. Each millimeter division of the ruler is equivalent to 1% milk fat content

Before starting the assessment, it is important to consider that milk expressed from an overfilled breast will contain an order of magnitude more fat.

The World Health Organization has described the gold standard for the fat content of human milk as 4%. If this indicator has shifted up or down within 1-2%, then this is not a reason for serious worries. The body of each breastfeeding woman is individual, so quality indicators are closely related to many factors.

The described technique cannot always reliably determine the amount of fat in breast milk. An equally important indicator of the quantitative composition of this product is the baby’s weight gain. If a child does not gain weight well and is often capricious, this indicates malnutrition.

How to increase the fat content of milk

How to increase the fat content of a cow's milk? This is a question many owners ask. To this end, you can adhere to the following basic rules:

• melt the first jets separately. This is done to increase fat content;
• Do not leave milk in the udder, as its remains contain a large percentage of fat. To do this, you need to massage the udder during milking.

Despite the fact that fat content does not act as the only indicator of milk quality, the cost of domestic cow's milk depends on this indicator.

What is the fattier milk?

Fattier milk

and towards the end of lactation.
Fat content is increased by: legumes, cake, wheat bran, fodder and sugar beets. The vitamin and mineral supplement “Zdravur Mu-Mu” also significantly increases the fat content of milk
.
Reducing the amount of hay sharply reduces the fat content of milk
.

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Nutrition standards, consumption of milk and dairy products

There is no consensus on how much dairy products should be consumed. A number of studies have been conducted on this issue, which have yielded conflicting results. However, cow's milk was, is and will be one of the most popular and irreplaceable food products.

According to the recommendation of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the total volume of dairy products per person per year should be at least 392 kg per year. This includes:

• products with a fat content of 3.5%, in the amount of 116 kg;
• products with a fat content of 0.5-1% – 12.3 kg;
• sour cream – 6.5 kg;
• cheese – 8.8 kg;
• butter – 6.1 kg;
• ice cream – 8.0 kg;
• condensed milk – 3.0 kg

Such recommendations are conditional, because each person eats exactly as much milk and dairy products as the body requires.

Consumption standards and milk needs of young children

A number of studies have shown that in the last decade the average height of Russians has decreased. This is due to the fact that the amount of protein food has sharply decreased - changes in diet and the development of the food industry have not had the best effect on people’s health. In addition, the population does not have access to fresh milk, and store-bought milk is not always of high quality. Propaganda about the dangers of dairy products also makes its contribution, as a result of which people are already consciously refusing such food.

Every parent who wants their child to fully develop and grow, have a strong figure and good build, must pay attention to the baby’s nutrition, which must necessarily contain a sufficient amount of dairy products.

Village fresh milk in baby food

Nowadays, pediatricians recommend special baby milk for feeding babies, the production of which has strict quality control. However, fresh milk, which in the old days was given to children, had pronounced bactericidal and immunomodulatory properties. Therefore, a number of judgments that cow’s milk has no benefit for babies are fundamentally incorrect.

Baby milk

If the baby is breastfed, then dairy products are introduced into his diet only from 8 months. Pediatricians advise starting to introduce baby milk from this age too. This product is produced in separate production facilities from selected raw materials. In addition, high quality control is established for baby food.

Baby milk is almost always ultra-pasteurized. To do this, the raw material is heated to a temperature of 137 °C, after which it is quickly cooled. This method preserves useful vitamins and microelements. Pasteurized and boiled milk loses most of its beneficial properties.

The most important disadvantage of baby milk compared to fresh milk is that it is always skimmed.

Which fat content of milk is healthier?

A large amount of research has been devoted to the question of which milk is the healthiest. Many people refuse to drink full-fat milk because its consumption has a negative impact on their health. However, according to the results of recent experiments, it was found that full-fat milk is beneficial for the body.

Scientists have come to the conclusion that the saturated fats in milk allow the body to better absorb vitamins that are necessary for the proper functioning of metabolic processes in the human body.

Complications

During severe calving, the fetus may get stuck in the mother's perineum; if it is not removed in the first hours, it will die, and possibly the adult too. Removal requires at least two people and special chains and forceps; using them without a veterinarian is highly not recommended; incorrect and inept movements will only cause damage.

Special reference books and magazines can help beginners. Experienced livestock breeders give various advice here, including what to do after the cow calving. According to most, it is necessary to watch her for the first few hours.

There is a possibility of so-called paresis occurring immediately after childbirth; its manifestation is similar to the symptoms of paralysis. The animal's ears and sacrum become cold, it cannot stand up and moans protractedly. Calcium is used for treatment; it is injected into a vein or subcutaneously. The cause of the disease may be obesity, an unbalanced diet or an improper diet. Such unpleasant situations most often occur in adults.