Africa in prime position to profit from camel’s milk

作者：米克·沃里克（Mick Warwicker），杰基·奥帕拉（Jackie Opara）

作为全球营养学家健康benefits of camel milk, its commercial potential is burgeoning – with80 per cent世界上居住在非洲的骆驼种群中。

但是障碍仍然使这个长生不老药transportable and palatable.

喝骆驼的牛奶可以防止一系列疾病as well as providing an important source of nutrition for millions of people, according to a recent报告。

来自澳大利亚，埃及，沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国的科学家团队对来自不同来源的骆驼牛奶进行了研究，并发表了他们发现在里面沙特生物科学杂志在五月。

“The fact that camel’s milk has more advantages than disadvantages cannot be overemphasised. All the apparent challenges have plausible solutions.”

Poya Njoka，马拉维农业，灌溉和水发展部beplay下载官网西西软件

该研究表明，骆驼的牛奶比牛奶更健康，因为它含有较少的脂肪，降低胆固醇水平，产生过敏反应的可能性较小，并且在某些维生素和矿物质中更丰富。

“Vitamin C is three to five times higher [in camel’s milk] than in cow’s milk, which makes it an important part of diet in arid areas where green foods have limited accessibility,” says the study.

Camel milk also contains certain substances such as bioactive peptides and enzymes not present in cow’s milk, which account for its traditional use for treatment of diseases such as tuberculosis and asthma.

骆驼牛奶中胰岛素和胰岛素型蛋白的存在可能使人受益糖尿病，解释该报告。它补充说，一种称为乳铁蛋白的蛋白质可以抑制乙型肝炎和C，而人类肠道中另一种蛋白质酪蛋白的分解产生“对自闭症患者的潜在积极影响”的物质。

Other substances in camel’s milk may help treat blood, lung, liver and breast cancer by inhibiting the spread of the malignant cells, such as the HepG2 liver cancer cell and the MCF7 breast cancer cell, and stimulating the body’s defence against them, the study says.

蓬勃发展的市场

当骆驼的牛奶在世界范围内越来越受欢迎时，这些发现就来了。一年一度Camel Dairy Market report (2021-26),2021年2月出版，他说，全球市场去年达到23亿美元，预计将以每年8％的增长。

Food sourcing companyTridge在其网站上发布市场情报的，肯尼亚是全球最大的骆驼牛奶生产国，其次是索马里，马里，埃塞俄比亚和沙特阿拉伯，基于2019年的数据。

According to Adel Omar, a Libyan food and营养scientist currently based in Spain, increased demand for camel’s milk is being driven by recognition of its health benefits and improvements in production and storage technologies. But challenges remain.

奥马尔说，骆驼的牛奶蛋白与牛奶中的牛奶蛋白不同，并在加热时会迅速降解，因此很难通过巴氏杀菌或超热治疗来保存。这使得存储和运输困难，结果它比牛奶更昂贵，并且保质期更短。

Some progress has been made to enable partial pasteurisation of camel’s milk by heat-treatment at a lower temperature than for cow’s milk, adds Omar. This type of commercial research and development is continuing and has enabled camel farms in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to supply European supermarkets with milk over the past few years.

新型状况

对于撒哈拉以南非洲的国家来说，参与蓬勃发展的骆驼市场仍然很牵强。

Poya Njoka, chief epidemiologist, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Malawi, says that camel’s milk has always been part of the diet for some nomadic people from time immemorial. It is more expensive than cow’s milk.

Njoka补充说，骆驼和其他哺乳动物一样，分娩后生产牛奶。他们的妊娠期长或长达13个月。

“现在，人们意识到，如果您对产品有信任，您可以从骆驼的牛奶中建立生计。”

Lauren Jones, Action on Poverty

“这意味着需要太久才在随后的出生中开始生产牛奶。骆驼会产生较少的牛奶：每天六升牛奶，而每天产生24升的母牛。骆驼的种群远低于母牛。所有这些因素导致骆驼的牛奶产量低，但需求不断增加。” Njoka解释说

“这非常昂贵，因为动物将处于新颖的状态。就目前而言，我们无法想到商业化。即使对于国内用途，访问它的比例也将忽略不计。”

He, however, says that increasing the population of camels through importation or breeding could be an option, but it may raise ethical issues in some quarters.

“Camel’s milk was originally consumed in the eastern countries. It has recently become commercial food in the west and other countries. This implies that camels are being imported to places where they didn’t originally inhabit,” Njoka explains. “This can be handled by consulting the ethical clearing committee for the concerned countries.”

Another concern, Njoka says, is that many believe that camels are not adapted to machine-milking and selective breeding may also be required to boost their milk production and to improve the ease of milking them.

“The fact that camel’s milk has more advantages than disadvantages cannot be overemphasised,” says Njoka. “All the apparent challenges have plausible solutions. This implies that it would be of great service to humanity to grant them access to camel’s milk so that they benefit from its numerous advantages.”

品味问题

奥马尔（Omar）在2018 - 19年间在英格兰雷丁大学（Reading University）进行热处理骆驼牛奶的热处理进行了研究，分析了发生的牛奶的变化，并组织了志愿者在各种温度下品尝治疗的牛奶样品。

奥马尔说：“他们认为，经过热处理的骆驼奶的味道令人不愉快，例如酸，咸味，陈旧和乳清味。”“这是因为热处理诱导的挥发物的形成，这些挥发物是造成非燃烧的原因。”

While at Reading, Omar also conducted preliminary experiments to test whether applying pressure to camel’s milk could destroy spoilage bacteria without degrading the proteins to a great extent.

他补充说，其他科学家正在继续这一研究，并表现出了希望，但主要是在西方和牛奶上。

“这项研究不能轻易应用于骆驼的牛奶，因为它具有完全不同的成分。我们需要更多研究在使用压力来保存骆驼的牛奶时，”他解释说。

支持农民

英国的慈善机构《贫困行动》表示，在干旱时期，骆驼的牛奶可以为生活在干旱地区的人们提供多达50％的营养摄​​入量。

作为它的一部分卡米利项目为了增加小型骆驼的牛奶生产农场在肯尼亚的Garissa和Wajir县，该慈善机构计划今年测试太阳能牛奶冷却器，以帮助将牛奶运输到当地市场。

Lauren Jones, Action on Poverty’s projects and trusts manager, says that the Camili project has already improved hygiene standards, such as introducing aluminium milk containers in place of traditional wooden ones, which harbour bacteria.

该项目自2014年以来一直在运行，现在正在进入其第三阶段。琼斯说：“起初，当地人将骆驼的牛奶视为拥有骆驼的副产品，这并不是真正的重视。”“现在，人们意识到，如果您对产品有信任，您可以从骆驼的牛奶中建立生计。”

这件作品由Scidev.net的撒哈拉以南非洲英语桌子制作。