Nutritional Value and Antioxidant Activity of Camel’s Milk

Abstract

Due to safety concerns, natural antioxidants have been of increasing interest so that the present investigation was undertaken to shed more light on the nutritional value and antioxidant properties of raw camel’s milk (Camelus dromedarius). Eighty milk samples were tested for their physiochemical and antioxidant properties including fat, protein, lactose, gross energy, total antioxidant capacity, vitamin C, zinc, iron and copper. The results showed mean values for the percentage of fat, protein, lactose and gross energy of 4.3±0.09, 3.4±0.06, 4.04±0.06, 75.3±1.04, respectively. The obtained data showed higher content of total antioxidant capacity (3.6±0.14 mmol/l), vitamin C (8.4 ± 0.44 mg/dl), zinc (0.33±0.01 mg/dl), iron (0.25±0.01 mg/dl) and copper (0.14±0.123 mg/dl) than that reported in previous studies on other types of milk. The study showed that nutritional contribution made by one cup of camel’s milk can meet the daily requirement for human from gross energy, vitamin C, zinc, iron and copper with 10.5, 23.3, 7.5, 7.8 and 38.9 %, respectively. Among the antioxidant profile, the average concentration of the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was 3.6±0.14 mmol/L. significant correlations were observed between TAC and other milk parameters particularly ascorbic acid. The obtained data could be of value in understanding the reasons behind considering camel’s milk as a functional food.