The Camel: Wholesome Food and Therapy
Mariam Alireza
Arab News
Due to research for health columns, I have learned to make better health choices; one of them drinking camel or sheep milk. In an earlier column, I wrote about different milk options (Are there Alternatives to Cow Milk? Arab News, Dec. 27, 2006). Moreover since reading the medical page of Dr. Jabber Al-Qahtani about camel products (Al-Riyadh newspaper, Nov. 26, 2007), I felt encouraged to revisit the subject in order to pass on valuable information about camel milk to those who are unaware of its benefits or reluctant to use it. So much is to be said and written about this overlooked God-given wholesome nutrition to the desert dwellers of the Arabian Peninsula and Central Asia. The milk’s high nutritional value substitutes the lack of variety of nutrients in their diet. Let us explore this miracle food.
Camel milk’s water volume is very high, preventing dehydration in baby camels and nomads. It reaches up to 91 percent during the dry period. At this point, sodium and phosphate contents increase, while calcium and magnesium decrease, with the milk becoming less palatable. On the other hand with water availability, camel’s yield becomes more concentrated in calcium and magnesium, and its water diminishes to 84 percent. Lactose and sodium contents of the milk depend on the quantity of water the she camel drinks; the stage of her milk production; and the type of fodder or shrubs she feeds on. When lactose reaches 5.8 percent, it acquires a sweeter taste.
Unlike fat in cow milk, fat in camel milk is not only low, but also healthy unsaturated fatty acids and linolenic acids (LA). Its fat molecules are much smaller, making the milk more digestible and more cardiovascular friendly and nutrients more bio-available.
Vitamin C in camel milk is three times that of cow milk. To make up for unavailability of vegetable and fruit nutrients, the milk offers higher vitamins B1 and B2 than others.
Casein, protein, in camel’s milk reaches 70 percent, improving its digestibility as well as absorption. The milk has other important amino acids along with albumin and globulin.
Contrary to belief that it gives diarrhea, camel milk contains antibacterial and antifungal agents that boost immunity to fight bacterial and yeast infections. How do we check that? Leave freshly-milked camel and cow milks separately at room temperature. Camel milk remains fresh for over 48 hours, whereas its counterpart only lasts 12 hours. Antibacterial and antifungal compounds slow it from turning sour.
Camel milk colostrums are of superior nutritional value, making them potent immune boosters for convalescing patients and sufferers of nutrient deficiencies and bone loss.
Bedouins treat many diseases and disorders with camel milk. These range from osteoporosis, rickets, hepatitis, digestive ulcers and disorders, spleen problems, tuberculosis, asthma, flu, and other respiratory diseases to controlling heartbeat, hypertension and diabetes. Omani studies support such therapies. While a Sudanese control study on diabetics found the milk to lower blood sugar levels significantly, a recent Indian study showed it to lower insulin dependence in diabetics.
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah ran experiments on carcinogen-fed rats. One group was treated with chemotherapy; another with camel milk only; and the third with both. The group treated with the milk was cured almost as well as the group that received chemotherapy; while the third group treated with both gave superior results.
Young camel meat is favored for its medicinal properties to cure lumbago, chronic shoulder pains, and urinary tract infections.
Hold your breath! Young camel urine is used as an antibiotic therapy for bacterial and yeast infections, allergies, and liver cirrhosis and as an antiseptic for wounds, skin infections, burns, and acne. Young she-camel urine is known to heal eye infections, too.
Research supports the above claims. Should you have inquiries, address them to Dr. Jabber Al-Qahtani of King Saud University in Riyadh,
jqahtani@alriyadh.com. He is the expert on the subject.
Arab View: The Camel: Wholesome Food and Therapy
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