Composition and medicinal properties of camel milk: A Review

Abstract

Many research findings proved that camel milk is closer to human milk than any other milk. Camel milk is different from other ruminant milk, having low cholesterol, low sugar, high minerals (sodium, potassium, iron, copper, zinc and magnesium), high vitamin C. Camel milk is unique from other ruminant's milk in terms of composition as well as claimed health effects. Camel milk has potential therapeutic characteristics, such as anti-hypertensive, anti-diabetic and anti-carcinogenic. It is often easily digested by lactose-intolerant individuals. On the other hand, camel milk also has ability to reduce the elevated level of bilirubin, globulin and granulocytes. Camel milk failed to show any effect towards improving the level of hemoglobin and leukocytes, and decreasing the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Camel milk proteins contained satisfactory balance of essential amino acids. It contains disease-fighting immunoglobulin's which are small in size, allowing penetration of antigens and boosting the effectiveness of the immune system. This review focused on the medicinal properties of camel milk which will be more useful to generate value added product.