Difference between Cow Milk and Buffalo Milk

Cow milk and buffalo milk both are high in nutrition and consumed all over the world. Both have their positives and negatives. Let us see how they differ from each other!

Cow Milk:

Cow milk is one of the most basic foods consumed all over the world. It is pale yellow in colour and has a low percentage of fat. It is thin in consistency, less creamy and easy to digest than buffalo milk. The cow milk is the most commonly consumed milk by the humans, followed by buffalo milk which is at number two in terms of consumption. It has less protein, calcium than buffalo milk but has more cholesterol than buffalo milk.

As per the reports of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 80% of milk consumed throughout the world is obtained from cows and around 11% comes from buffaloes. Cow milk is mostly consumed in western countries, whereas, buffalo milk is mostly consumed in South East Asia, mostly in India and Pakistan. Being thin in consistency, it is used to make chenna that is used in the preparation of desserts like rasgulla, rasmalai and sandesh.

Buffalo Milk:

Buffalo milk is one of most basic foods consumed all over the world. It is white in colour and has a higher percentage of fat and thus is thick in consistency than cow's milk. It also has more protein and calcium than cow milk that is good for bones and muscles. It also offers more calories than cow's milk due to the higher fat and protein content.

Being creamier and thicker, Buffalo milk is used in the preparation of heavy foods like paneer, curd, kheer, ghee etc. It can be preserved naturally for a longer duration due to the presence of peroxidase enzyme. It is widely consumed in South East Asian Countries like India and Pakistan.

Based on the above information, some of the key differences between cow milk and buffalo milk are as follows:

Cow Milk	Buffalo Milk
It is pale yellow in colour.	It is white in colour.
It has less percentage of fat so it has a thin consistency and is less creamy.	It has more fat content so it has a thick consistency and is creamier than cow milk.
It has less protein and calcium content than buffalo milk.	It has more protein and calcium than cow milk so it is good for bone and muscles.
It is mostly consumed in Western countries.	It is mostly consumed in India and Pakistan.
It has more water content than buffalo milk so helps hydrate the body.	It has less water content than cow's milk.
It has fewer calories than buffalo milk.	It has more calories than cow milk.
It is easy to digest.	It is less easy to digest.
It contains more cholesterol than buffalo's milk.	It has less cholesterol than cow's milk that makes it good for people suffering from hypertension, kidney diseases and obesity.
It is commonly used to make chenna that is the main ingredient of deserts like rasmalai, sandesh, rasgulla etc.	It is commonly used in the preparation of heavy foods like ghee, paneer, curd etc.