Gwyneth Paltrow wants you to know: milk comes from many different kinds of animals other than cows — even cockroaches.
The 44-year-old actress’s lifestyle website Goop published a guide to ten different types of animal milk and, needless to say, not all of it is appetizing.
The piece includes input from ‘resident Goop nutritionist’ Shira Lenchewski, MS, RD, and explains the benefits and uses of milk from all manner of animals, including giraffes, yaks, donkeys, and yes — cockroaches.
Drink up! Gwyneth Paltrow published a guide to animal milk on her website, Goop
Ew! The article mentions that one type of cockroach actually produces milk, however it is only to create enough to feed it’s young and could therefore not be milked (file photos used)
One of the most loathed creatures on the planet — particularly for city-dwellers — roaches could produce delicious fat-free chocolate and most people still wouldn’t go near them.
According to Goop, roaches do actually make make milk however — just not enough to drink. In fact, it took researchers years to figure out that the bugs make milk at all, since only one type does so.
Like many mammals, Diploptera Punctata, the only species of roach that gives birth to living offspring, as opposed to laying eggs, produce milk to feed their young, which has 3.5 times as many calories has cow’s milk.
But being so tiny, they don’t make a whole lot of it.
Yet that didn’t stop Goop from including roaches in their animal milk guide, with the feature revealing: ‘As might be expected, the process of “milking” a cockroach is precise and laborious—but the outcome is flashy: When researchers in India analyzed the crystal structure of the milk in 2016, they discovered protein sequences with all the essential amino acids, plus proteins, fats, and sugars—and the milk turns out to be 3.5 times more calorie-rich than cow’s milk.’
That’ll do: There are several types of animals that make milk consumed by humans, including donkeys
No moo here: Yak milk is mostly consumed in western China and Mongolia
Actually ‘milking’ a cockroach however, is certainly no easy task, and not one that the average person, or even the most skilled dairy farmer, will be trying any time soon.
‘The only way [to milk a cockroach] would be to make cultures of yeast with the genes in it for making this milk,’ said Barbara Stay, Ph.D., professor emerita at the University of Iowa. ‘But that’s pie in the sky, if you ask me.’
Some of the other types of milk in the Goop guide are somewhat more appetizing, though still unusual to most people in the Western hemisphere.
People in Russia and Central Asia drink milk from horses and donkeys, and it is thought to be hypoallergenic and therapeutic.
Where cows can’t survive in Eurasia, people drink reindeer milk, which is quite similar. Meanwhile, Camel milk is consumed in areas to dry for cows.
Feeding: Giraffes make milk for their babies, though it’s not consumed by humans
‘Research suggests that camel’s milk is pretty much the closest you can come to a human mother’s milk, particularly in terms of immune-boosting proteins like lactoferrin and immunoglobulins,’ explained nutritionist Lenchewski.
Yak milk, which is mostly consumed in western China and Mongolia, is high in protein and amino acids, while buffalo milk is the ‘predominant dairy animal’ in India and Pakistan.
There’s also giraffe milk, which young giraffes drink from their mothers but is not common for human consumption.
Finally, the article lists two types of milk slightly more common in the US and Europe: goat milk and sheep milk.
You can milk anything with nipples: The article brings to mind the scene in Meet the Fockers (starring Gwyneth’s mom, Blythe Danner) in which Greg demonstrates milking a cat
Flushing out a parasite? Earlier this year, Gwyneth went on an all-goat-milk cleanse
Gwyneth is a particular fan of goat milk, and earlier this year she discussed going on a goat milk cleanse for over a week.
The star told Shape that the eight-day cleanse was intended to ‘rid my system of parasites’.
‘That was really interesting. It’s only goat’s milk and herbs,’ she said. ‘The theory is that we all have parasites, and they love the milk protein. So if you eat nothing else, they all come out of the intestinal wall and then you kill them with the herbs.’
Gwyneth tried it for her website, and said she felt ‘so good’ after she finished. The resulting article included advice from Dr. Linda Lancaster, a naturopathic physician and homeopath, for killing parasites.
Doctors also prescribe medicine for such purposes.