Skin Trending Ingredients

Donkey Milk: The Next Big Beauty Ingredient?

Radhika Tupe July 25, 2021

From jade rollers to snail mucin or other earthly wonders, we’re no strangers to quirky beauty trends. We’ve seen and heard about all kinds of milk like almond milk, rice milk, goat milk, and camel milk…believe it or not we have one more to add to the list – DONKEY MILK! Yes, you heard that right. Is it worth the hype? Here are my two cents (from a scientific POV).

From a historic perspective…

Though donkey milk has come in limelight in recent years, it has a long and fascinating history of use. It was used by Egyptians as a natural elixir for centuries. It’s believed that Cleopatra and other ancient royalty bathed in “jenny milk” to preserve the youthful appearance of skin and keep wrinkles at bay. Oops, did I just throw another word at you? Don’t worry, it’s not too complicated. Donkey milk is also known as jenny or ass milk. It is also known as miracle milk in Greece, known to have healing and regenerative properties.

What is the composition of donkey milk?

The donkey is a domesticated member of the Equine family (“Equus Africanus Asinus”) and donkey milk (natural milk produced by donkeys) is usually processed in powder form to be used as an ingredient to avoid rancidity. With the composition of its milk being closest to human breast milk, it is rich in vitamins, amino acids, minerals, omega-3, and 6 fatty acids. The pH values of donkey milk range from 7.0 to 7.2, which is very similar to the pH of human milk.

Donkey milk as a human and cow milk substitute

From an ingestible perspective, donkey milk is recommended as a hypoallergenic alternative to human milk. For those with a milk protein allergy (CMPA), IgE-, and non-IgE mediated allergies, donkey milk comes up as a top recommendation to be used as a substitute for cow milk.

In fact, when donkey milk and goat milk were analyzed in a clinical study involving children with Atopic Dermatitis (AD) and Cow’s Milk Allergy (CMA), donkey milk was tolerated by 88% of the children with CMA and resulted in a significant improvement in AD. On the contrary, symptoms of AD remained unchanged or even worsened in all children receiving goat milk.

What can it do for skin?

1. Moisturization:

In a recent clinical study by Kocic et al., a donkey milk-encapsulated nanoliposome cream was evaluated on a small group of people to measure the effect on skin hydration, barrier function and pH. According to the study results, donkey milk cream may enhance the moisture of skin, potentially enabling deeper permeation of phospholipids and essential proteins, while keeping the acidic pH of skin.

2. Skin Barrier Function:

Milk proteins generally contain all essential amino acids, which may help restore the protein layer of cell membranes and cells’ intracellular compartments. Interestingly, donkey milk contains more whey protein than cow milk. Besides its high nutritive value, donkey milk’s whey protein possesses anti-inflammatory and bactericidal properties, such as the two isoforms of α-lactalbumin (A and B), three isoforms of β-lactoglobulin, lysozyme, albumin, and lactoferrin. (Lysozymes are proteins with bactericidal properties, capable of hydrolyzing the polysaccharides of bacterial cell walls and preventing infections on the skin surface.)

3. Skin Soothing and Regeneration:

Donkey milk has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, wound healing and regenerative properties in skin fibroblast cells, potentially being able to reduce or calm irritation and redness to the skin. In addition, some studies note that because of the high content of lysozyme found in donkey milk (1g/L), it is an efficient anti-microbial agent. Soaring levels of protein, phospholipids and ceramides present in the milk adds into the regenerative and restructuring properties, and could help in skin tightening, for younger looking and plump skin.

Donkey milk also contains both water soluble vitamins such as B-complex and vitamin C, as well as fat-soluble vitamins, most prominently vitamin D. (Vitamin C is a great anti-oxidant and is known for improving the overall health of skin, promotes elasticity, firmness and glow of your skin.)

Products and brands using donkey milk!

Although mainstream brands have not yet soaked into donkey milk, it is a differentiator for plenty of indie and K-beauty brands. Here’s a short list of products that’ve been formulated with the ingredient – Donkey Milk Moisturizing Cream, Freeset donkey milk skin gel mask, Doana Donkey Milk Soap, Soo’AE Donkey Milk Skin Gel Mask, Donkey Milk Face Cream and Donkey Milk Soap Bar.

So, is donkey milk the next big beauty ingredient?

Well, not quite yet. At this point, much of the proposed benefits lack scientific validation. Perhaps it can pull the weight of moisturization and skin barrier function benefits, but more robust studies are needed to know if this could be the next retinol for certain.

References:

1. Malacarne M, Martuzzi F, Summer A, Mariani P (2002) Protein and fat composition of mare’s milk: some nutritional remarks with reference to human and cow’s milk. Int Dairy J 12:869–877 [Google Scholar]
2. Ahsan H. Immunopharmacology and immunopathology of peptides and proteins in personal products. J Immunoassay Immunochem. 2019;40(4):439-447 [PubMed]
3. Malacarne M, Criscione A, Franceschi P, Bordonaro S, Formaggioni P, Marletta D, Summer A. New Insights into Chemical and Mineral Composition of Donkey Milk throughout Nine Months of Lactation. Animals (Basel). 2019 Dec 17;9(12):1161 [PubMed]
4. Smith WP. Epidermal and dermal effects of topical lactic acid. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1996 Sep;35(3 Pt 1):388-91 [PubMed]
5. Nguyen JK, Masub N, Jagdeo J. Bioactive ingredients in Korean cosmeceuticals: Trends and research evidence. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2020 Jul;19(7):1555-1569 [PubMed]
6. Aspri, Maria, Nicole Economou, and Photis Papademas. “Donkey Milk: An Overview On Functionality, Technology, and Future Prospects.” Food reviews international, v. 33,.3 pp. 316-333 [Google Scholar]
7. Kafi R, Kwak HS, Schumacher WE, Cho S, Hanft VN, Hamilton TA, King AL, Neal JD, Varani J, Fisher GJ, Voorhees JJ, Kang S. Improvement of naturally aged skin with vitamin A (retinol). Arch Dermatol. 2007 May;143(5):606-12 [PubMed]
8. Cotte J (1991) Le lait, una matière d’avenir pour la cosmétique. Lait 71:1213–1224 [Google Scholar]
9. Vita D, Passalacqua G, Di Pasquale G, Caminiti L, Crisafulli G, Rulli I, Pajno GB. Ass’s milk in children with atopic dermatitis and cow’s milk allergy: crossover comparison with goat’s milk. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2007 Nov;18(7):594-8 [PubMed]
10. Kocic, H, Stankovic, M, Tirant, M, Lotti, T, Arsic, I. Favorable effect of creams with skimmed donkey milk encapsulated in nanoliposomes on skin physiology. Dermatologic Therapy. 2020; 33:e13511. [Pubmed]
11. H. Kocic, T. Langerholc, M. Kostic, S. Stojanovic, S. Najman, M. Krstic, I. Nesic, A. Godic, U. Wollina, “The Regenerative Potential of Donkey and Human Milk on the Redox-Sensitive and Proliferative Signaling Pathways of Skin Fibroblasts”, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity vol. 2020, Article ID 5618127, 8 pages, 2020.
12. Vincenzetti, S.; Santini, G.; Polzonetti, V.; Pucciarelli, S.; Klimanova, Y.; Polidori, P. Vitamins in Human and Donkey Milk: Functional and Nutritional Role. Nutrients 2021, 13, 1509. [Pubmed]
13. Image credit – Monstera