Alergi susu

Alergi susu adalah suatu reaksi ketidak-tahanan tubuh terhadap satu atau lebih protein susu.

Pada beberapa anak, mengkonsumsi susu dapat memicu badan untuk mengeluarkan reaksi kekebalan tubuh yang tidak tepat terhadap protein-protein di dalam susu,yang mengakibatkan suatu reaksi alergi.

Symptoms

Tanda-tanda utamanya adalah terkait pencernaan, kulit dan pernapasan. Ini dapat muncul dalam bentuk: ruam kulit, gatal-gatal, bersin, muntah, diare, sembelit and distress. The clinical spectrum extends to diverse disorders: anaphylactic reactions, atopic dermatitis, wheeze, infantile colic, gastroesophageal reflux (GER), oesophagitis, allergic colitis and constipation.

The symptoms may occur within a few minutes after exposure in immediate reactions, or after hours (and in some cases after several days) in delayed reactions.

Difference with lactose intolerance

Milk allergy is a food allergy, an adverse immune reaction to a food protein that is normally harmless to the non-allergic individual. Lactose intolerance is a non-allergic food hypersensitivity: it is due to the deficiency of the enzyme lactase, which is required to digest the predominant sugar in milk.

Treatment

Currently the only treatment for milk allergies is total avoidance of milk proteins. Initially if the infants are breastfed, the lactating mothers are given an elimination diet. If symptoms are not relieved or the if infants are bottlefed, milk substitute formulas are used to provide the infant with a complete source of nutrition. Milk substitutes include soy milk, rice milk, and hypoallergenic formulas based on hydrolysed protein or free amino acids.

Statistics

Milk allergy is the most common food allergy. It affects somewhere between 2% and 3% of infants in developed countries, but approximately 85-90% of children lose clinical reactivity to milk once they surpass 3 years of age.

See also

• Food allergy
• Allergy
• Anaphylaxis

External links

• Act Against Allergy
• The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network