Does goat milk contain more vitamin D than cow's milk?

Last updated 02/04/2024

Cow’s milk is one of the core dairy foods that the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend you enjoy everyday. [1]

Some people switch to goat’s milk because of perceived sensitivities to cow’s milk. If a person has an allergic sensitivity, it is usually due to one or more of the proteins in milk. The proteins in goat’s milk are closely related to those in cow’s milk, so replacing one type of milk with the other usually doesn’t make any difference. The two milks are also quite similar in their content of sugars, fat and protein. Both are naturally quite low in vitamin D. 

In Australia, we don’t have a lot of published data on the vitamin D content of goat’s milk, but international food composition databases have found that goat’s milk vitamin D content can range from 0.6–2.8 μg/kg and cow’s milk from 0.3–1.0 μg/kg.[2] Seasonal variations in vitamin D content of cow’s milk has been well documented, with concentrations found to be higher in the summer months than in the winter.[3] These same seasonal variations may affect goat’s milk too. 

Australians need between 5-15 μg of vitamin D every day, depending on your age.[4] For most of us, our main source of vitamin D comes from sunlight, but small amounts are also found naturally in some foods like fatty fish (e.g. mackerel, salmon)and eggs. In Australia, by law, margarine is fortified with vitamin D. Some dairy foods (including milk) may have added vitamin D. If a brand of cow or goat milk states that there is added vitamin D on the food label, the amount will be listed in the nutrition information panel on the back of the label.