As a food milk is unique. It has all the food factors:
(1) Proteins. The milk proteins are: casein, lactalbumin and lactoglobulin. Casein, the chief protein occurs combined with calcium as calcium caseinogenate. Milk from cow, buffalo and goat has three times of protein compared to the human milk. The ratio of casein to albumin is nearly 1:1 in the human milk; it is 7:1 in animal milk. Milk protein has all the essential amino acids for body building.
The following comparative table of the contents of milk will serve as a good aid to estimate the value of food as an excellent nutrient food.
(i) A comparative table of the average food content in percentage of the different types of milk:
As an article of food milk is uniquely and incomparably suited to all types of individuals – the infants, the children, the youth and aged; the emasiated, the starved, the convalescent; the exhausted, the weak and those who become weak due to sexual excesses; for sucking women; and, for persons suffering from varied diseases, such as chronic fever, mental diseases, gastric or stomach discharge, ulcers and cancers of the stomach, gastric disorders like dyspepsia or indigestion, intestinal disorders like diarrhoea as well as dysentery, urinary disorders such as albuminuria (i.e. discharge of albumen along with urine, as in diabetes) and also ascites (or collection of morbid fluids or dropsy and abdominal swellings) and anasarca (dropsy—in the skin and the layers beneath the skin). Sushruta, a very respected classical author on Ayurveda however cautions that milk should not be given for drinking in cases of low fever as it might even cause death.
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The qualities of the different types of the milk products are as follows:
Butter Milk is astringent, light for digestion, cooling, appetising, nutritive and is a general fortifying tonic.
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Diseases of the Head
(i) Headache due to heat: This affects those who consume too much of heating substances or those who wander too much in sun. For this, take half a ser of cow’s milk and take also three tolas of tamarind that is washed well with hot water. Add sugarcandy, cool it down and then drink. 3-4 days of its use would definitely stop the ache in the head. Massaging the head along with this procedure will ensure non-recurrence of the pain also.
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Two highly nutritious milk dishes : Milk is one of the most nutritious and infact an all sufficient food substance. There are many preparations of milk that are healthy and specially rich in nutrition. Two such common and popular though rather costly preparations are as follows:
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A few salient aspects of dietary and medicinal use of milk and some of its products as employed in allopathic as well as ayurvedic systems of medicine have been highlighted in the account given above. We shall consider now the three common ways or products in which milk is used in India predominantly and specially as the system of Ayurveda recommends.
Splenic Enlargement
The patient here becomes very weak. He cannot tolerate even the least amount of work and even walking about leads to a difficulty in breathing. He loses interest in eating or drinking and there is constant pain in the region of the spleen.
Chest and Lung Disease
Blood during coughing : When blood comes out during coughing but not from the lungs, drinking sheep’s milk daily and to the extent of his desire will prove beneficial to the patient.
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The usual ways to prepare curds is to place a bit of sour substance like the previous curds, or buttermilk in milk that is heated and cooled. Within 8-10 hours curds will form. Raw milk taken from market is an excellent agent for many disease germs of tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, typhus and so on. To prepare buttermilk from it directly will make it really a poison. That is why milk should be boiled well and then only used for making curds and then, the buttermilk. This is the normal way of preparing curds. Here are a few other ways mainly meant for some specific diseases.
Continue reading Milk Therapy: How to Prepare Curds and Buttermilk?