Kinematics of gaits in Bardigiano horses

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Advances on equine milk and derivatives for human consumption

Recent advances in research concerning mare’s milk are reviewed. It is estimated that around 30 million people consume equine milk regularly throughout the world. In many Countries of Asia and East Europe mare’s milk is consumed as koumiss, airag or chigee, alcoholic dairy products obtained by means of a mixed culture of fermenting yeasts and bacteria. A considerable variability in the microorganisms isolated from fermented mare’s milk is observed. Isolation and characterization of Lactobacillus spp. from koumiss are addressed in numerous publications from East Asia: 240 strains have been identified since 2004. Several studies take in account mare’s milk potential probiotic aspects. Many biologically active factors are present in equine colostrum and milk, in particular lysozyme in high amount. Especially the tissue repair function of some bioactive molecules has been tested on patients with several pathologies and positive responses were documented in clinical studies. Equine milk has a whey protein:casein ratio close to 50:50 and while biochemistry and structure of whey proteins are well known, characterization of the casein fraction is quite recent and considered in some studies with different methodological approaches. Some researches are aimed to study alternative milk for children with cow milk protein allergy. Mare’s milk immunoblottings obtained with anti-beta-lactoglobulin and anti-total casein polyclonal antibodies, produced against cow milk proteins, showed very mild immunoreactivity, while both antibodies strongly react with proteins from other dairy species. Fat content in equine milk is lower if compared to other species, ranging between 10-20 g/kg. Recent studies confirmed that fat composition is characterized by high content in polyunsaturated fatty acids: linoleic and alfa-linolenic fatty acids, essential for human nutrition, are present in very variable proportion that can exceed 20%, while conjugated linoleic acid content is around 0.1%, much lower than in cow or ewe milk