Abstract:
Donkey milk is acknowledged as a valuable nutritional source in the human diet, well known for
its bioactive and functional properties. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to investigate
the similarities between donkey and human milk after six months of lactation with respect to the
lipid composition, milk fat globule particle size distribution, antioxidant activity, and mineral content.
These components are related to the nutritional properties of milk and they are important for the
dairy industry as well to human health. The obtained results showed that the most dominant fatty
acids in both types of milk were oleic, palmitic, and linoleic followed by lauric, capric, and alphalinolenic
acids. Donkey milk had a desirable fatty acid composition due to its high alpha-linolenic
acid content and especially low omega-6/omega-3 ratio. After the fat globule distribution was
analysed, it was found that fat globules smaller than 2 μm had the highest percentage in both
human and donkey milk. The antioxidant activity of human milk was significantly higher at 42.95 %
compared to donkey milk at 35.83 %. Predominant mineral in both types of milk was Ca, followed
by P, Zn, Fe and Cu. Highlighting the similarity between donkey milk and human milk encourages
the use of donkey milk as a potential substitute for human milk in the future.
