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Milk allergy is as an immunologically mediated adverse reaction to one or more milk proteins.

In some children the ingestion of milk can trigger the body into launching an inappropriate immune response to the proteins in milk resulting in an allergic reaction.

Symptoms

The principle symptoms are gastrointestinal, dermatological and respiratory. These can translate to: skin rash, hives, wheezing, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation 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