As with cow milk, if goat milk is to be used as the sole source of nut
rition during early infancy it needs to be modified. These modificatio
ns must include dilution in order to reduce renal solute load and the
addition of sugar, vitamins and minerals to make the formulation more
like human milk and more nutritionally complete. Infants fed exclusive
ly goat milk are at risk of developing megaloblastic anemia unless the
goat milk is fortified with folic acid or the infant is provided with
an oral folic acid supplement. In addition to the absolute difference
in folate concentration between goat and human milk, the impact of th
ermal processing and species differences in milk folate bioavailabilit
y should be considered in fortification of milk products. More researc
h is needed to elucidate the impact of different feeding regimes (e.g.
, iron and folate content of diets) on milk folate content. Post-weani
ng, there is little doubt that goat milk is an excellent source of nut
rition for the human when used as part of a nutritionally well-balance
d diet.