Can you resist it? Though milk allergy is common among kids, adults are not completely immune to it

Is your child suffering from diarrhoea or having abdominal cramps? Is he also complaining of gas, bloating, itchy eyes or nasal congestion? Beware, these can occur because of the formula milk your child is drinking. All such symptoms can indicate that he is allergic to milk.

“Milk allergies occur when the child’s immune system mistakenly sees the milk protein as dangerous and tries to fight it. This starts an allergic reaction, which can cause an infant to be fussy and irritable, and lead to stomach problems and other symptoms,” says Dr Gautam Ghosh, consultant paediatrician, Sree Jain Hospital and Research Centre, Howrah.

Milk types

Studies reveal that most children who are allergic to cow’s milk also have problems with goat’s milk and sheep’s milk. Some of them are also allergic to the protein in soya milk, thereby compounding the problem.

“Infants who are breast fed have a lower risk of developing a milk allergy than those who are formula milk fed. But there is no proper explanation as to why some children develop a milk allergy and others don’t,” says Dr Ghosh.

However, one must keep in mind that a milk allergy is not the same thing as a lactose intolerance (the inability to digest sugar lactose), which is rare in infants and more common among toddlers and adults, says Dr Ghosh. Lactose intolerance is basically carbohydrate intolerance and it also leads to a condition that is similar to diarrhoea, he explains.

Milk allergy usually starts in early infancy. Studies reveal that two to three per cent of infants are allergic to milk, but most tend to outgrow it within the first few years. Sixty per cent of milk allergic children outgrow it by the age of four. However, there are those who can never recover from it.

Key factors

Adults can also suffer from milk allergy. So it can develop later in life. This is probably because cow’s milk is one of the most frequent food allergens.

Several protein allergens present in cow’s milk cause allergic reactions. Casein and whey are the two main components. The curd that forms when milk is left to sour is called casein while the watery part, which is left after the curd is removed, is called whey. Casein accounts for 80 per cent of the protein in milk and is the most important allergen found in cheese. The harder the cheese, the greater the quantity of casein it contains. Whey accounts for the other 20 per cent of milk. It comprises two main allergenic proteins ? alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactaglobulin. It’s these protein allergens that induce milk allergy, both in adults as well as in infants.

“No definitive study has been done concerning this topic in India. However, cases of milk allergy are common in India. The number of people sensitive to this allergy varies from place to place. But it is more prevalent among vegetarians,” observes Dr Ghosh.

What to avoid

The classic symptoms of this allergy are mild to severe diarrhoea, blood dysentery, asthma, pulmonary eosinophilia, anaemia, and skin allergy like eczema or rashes. If any of the symptoms is detected, the best remedy is to remove milk from one’s diet. If the symptoms are ignored, acute anaemia and anaphylactic shock (an acute reaction to milk protein, which might lead to laryngeal oedema thereby causing airway obstruction and lung infection) may be the outcome. It may not cause rickets (a deficiency disease that leads to the softening and malformation of bones) even if the allergy is acute.

Milk allergy is not transmitted from one person to another. Nor is it transmitted through any other media (e.g. bacteria, viruses or animals).

“Medication is ineffective. Avoidance of milk and milk-containing foods is the only treatment,” says Dr Ghosh. This may be difficult to maintain, particularly as milk protein may be present in other foods.

Soya milk may be substituted for cow’s milk or cow’s milk-derived formulae. Unfortunately, around 20 per cent of milk-allergic children are also allergic to soya milk. So simply abstaining from milk may take a toll on one’s health. In that case, you can switch to easy supplements with protein foods equivalent to milk or curd.