Milk Allergy
Who Gets Milk Allergy?
In this article, milk refers specifically to cow’s milk and not to other types of milk such as soy milk, rice milk, goat’s milk etc. unless specified.
Although milk allergy occurs most often in infants and children, it can appear at any age and can be caused by foods that had been previously eaten without any problems. Milk allergy symptoms can develop in both formula-fed and breastfed infants. Breastfed infants can develop milk allergy to cow’s milk protein passed through breast milk, and may not have a reaction until they drink or eat cow’s milk. Many infants who have milk allergy can lose their allergy by 5 years of age.
Milk allergy is not the same thing as lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose, a sugar found in many dairy products. Lactose intolerance is rare in infants and young children and is more common in adults.
What Are the Symptoms?
Allergic reactions to foods usually begin within minutes to a few hours after eating the food. The severity of symptoms can vary widely from one person to another. Mildly allergic persons may have itching and a few hives while severely allergic persons may experience severe, life-threatening symptoms such as breathing problems or swelling of the throat. The symptoms of food allergy may include any or several of the following:
- Itching
- Hives
- Eczema
- Tingling or swelling of the lips, tongue or throat
- Chest tightness, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Wheezing
- Abdominal pain
- Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Fainting
- Anaphylaxis: sudden, severe, potentially fatal, systemic allergic reaction that can involve several areas of the body
- Although soy milk may be a possible alternative to cow's milk, many people with cow’s milk allergy can have soy allergy.
- Many people allergic to cow’s milk may not tolerate milk from other mammals such as goat or sheep.
- Some people with cow’s milk allergy may have a reaction after eating beef.
If you have milk allergy, strict avoidance of milk is the only way to prevent a reaction. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires food manufacturers to list common food allergens on food labels in plain terms to make it easier to identify the food allergens. Food labels must clearly list eight allergens which account for almost 90 percent of all food allergies: cow’s milk, soy, wheat, egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.
The common allergens are listed either within the ingredient list or after the list. For example, if a product contains casein, a milk protein, the product's label should list the term “milk” either after the term casein, or state “contains milk” after the list of ingredients. The FDA currently does not require manufacturers to state if the food was processed in a facility that also processes the 8 common food allergens.
Anyone allergic to milk should avoid the following ingredients and foods:
- Milk: in all forms, including condensed, dry, evaporated, and powdered milk, and milk from mammals (such as goat or sheep)
- Casein and casein hydrosylates
- Caseinates (such as sodium caseinate)
- Whey
- Lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate, lactogloulin, lactoferrin and lactulose
- Butter: including butter, butter fat, butter oil, artificial butter flavor
- Buttermilk
- Cheese and cream cheese
- Cream, half & half, and ice cream
- Cottage cheese and curds
- Custard, pudding and yogurt
- Ghee
- Sour cream, sour milk
To ensure that you eat a well-balanced, healthy diet that provides adequate nutrients, talk to a registered dietitian.
How Can I be Prepared?
- Always know what you are eating and drinking.
- Always check the label ingredients before you use a product, even if the food was safe the last time you ate it. Manufacturers can change recipes and a milk containing food may be added to the recipe.
- Teach children with milk allergy not to accept food from classmates or friends.
- When dining out, ask detailed questions about ingredients and how the food was prepared.
- Wear a medical alert bracelet with information about your allergy or carry an alert card with you.
- Talk with your doctor about how to prepare for a reaction. Mild reactions may be treated with oral antihistamines. Your doctor may prescribe injectable epinephrine to carry with you at all times in case you have a severe reaction.
To treat a milk allergy, the person who is allergic needs to completely avoid any foods that contain milk or milk products.
Avoiding milk involves more than just leaving the cheese off your cheese fries. If you are allergic to milk, you need to read food labels carefully and not eat anything that you’re not sure about. It's a good idea to work with a registered dietitian to develop an eating plan that provides all the nutrients you need while avoiding things you can't eat. Check out our section on Living With a Milk Allergy (below) for more tips.
If you have a severe milk allergy — or any kind of serious allergy — your doctor may want you to carry a shot of epinephrine (pronounced: eh-puh-neh-frin) with you in case of an emergency. Epinephrine comes in an easy-to-carry container about the size of a large marker. It’s easy to use — your doctor will show you how.
If you accidentally eat something with milk in it and start having serious allergic symptoms, like swelling inside your mouth, chest pain, or difficulty breathing, you can give yourself the shot right away to counteract the reaction while you're waiting for medical help.You should make sure your school and even good friends' houses have injectable epinephrine on hand, too.
Keeping epinephrine on hand at all times should be just part of your action plan for living with a milk allergy. It's also a good idea to carry an over-the-counter antihistamine as this can help alleviate allergy symptoms in some people. Antihistamines should be used in addition to the epinephrine and not as a replacement for the shot.
If you've had to take an epinephrine shot because of an allergic reaction, then you should go immediately to a medical facility or hospital emergency room so they can give you additional treatment if you need it. Up to one third of anaphylactic reactions can have a second wave of symptoms several hours following the initial attack. Therefore, you might need to be observed in a clinic or hospital for 4 to 8 hours following the reaction.
Information Obtained From National Institute Of Health