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Milk allergy
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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Milk is a protein product, and any protein entering the body from the outside can provoke an allergic reaction. Therefore, milk allergy can occur along with other types of food allergies, if the predisposition to such reactions in the body is clearly expressed. Many sources indicate an allergy to milk sugar - lactose, while others - only to protein. In fairness, both can be called right, because an inadequate reaction to dairy products can be provoked by both lactose and milk protein.
[ Why does milk allergy occur?
It is a mistake to think that milk allergy is only common in children. Adults also suffer from this disease. Let's look at the main causes of milk allergy in each age group.
For a newborn baby, everything except mother's milk is coarse food. The walls of the gastrointestinal tract are covered with a loose mucous membrane that has not yet completed its final formation and is not protected by natural microflora. Only when the child reaches two years of age do the walls of the stomach and intestines become fully capable of resisting the penetration of pathogenic agents through them. Up to two years, the mucous membrane is easily permeable to any allergen. That is why it is important to start introducing complementary foods correctly and in a timely manner.
The baby's body can perceive mother's milk as an allergen if the diet during pregnancy contained dairy products, and the child has a genetic predisposition to allergies. This complex cause-and-effect process leads to the fact that almost from birth the child is forced to switch to artificial feeding with mixtures based on plant milk.
Consumption of fermented milk products by people prone to milk allergies is not prohibited, although it does not exclude their complete safety. During the fermentation process, most of the milk protein, as well as lactic acid, "goes away", remaining in an insignificant concentration. Sometimes this concentration is enough to renew the allergy. Careful study of the composition will help to avoid "meeting" with a product based on dry milk of animal origin. Allergy sufferers should avoid such products, but everything that has a base of milk of plant origin is very safe.
A child's milk allergy may "go away" over time. A strengthened organism, gaining more and more immune strength over the years, is able to overcome this disease on its own. If a child grows up weakened, milk will remain an allergen for him for many years. The first encounter with a milk allergy can also happen in adulthood. This is possible due to a weakening of the organism, due to the development of drug allergy, against the background of which other types of allergic reactions join, as well as problems with the gastrointestinal tract, leading to a decrease and complete imbalance in metabolism.
How does milk allergy manifest itself?
In childhood, allergies can be suspected by the presence of one constant symptom or several symptoms that occur simultaneously or join in stages. Children with allergies are prone to frequent diaper rash, especially in all large folds of the body, and atypical dermatitis. Thrush in the oral cavity that does not go away for a long time, dryness of the mucous membrane of the lips and the appearance of cracks in the corners of the mouth are clear evidence of allergies.
Symptoms of allergies, including those to dairy products, include dyspeptic disorders – frequent and profuse regurgitation, diarrhea, often very watery. Constant anxiety of the child, intestinal colic and skin rashes covering the entire body indicate the presence of negative processes occurring in the child's body.
It is very difficult to establish the cause of all the above reasons on your own. An immediate visit to a pediatrician will be the best decision for parents. Timely initiation of diagnostics leads to a correct diagnosis and the beginning of effective treatment, which will allow the child to be cured of the disease in the shortest possible time.
Milk allergy or intolerance?
Confusion in concepts arises from the wrong approach to the mechanisms of development of two, relatively identical, behaviors of the body, in response to the intake of the same product - milk. But dairy products, getting into the stomach, are split into different components, which can be perceived by the body in different ways. Any protein coming from the outside, including milk protein, is perceived by a weakened body prone to allergies as a foreign "agent" that must be immediately "eliminated". All defenses begin to activate, resulting in an allergic reaction with the manifestation of all the characteristic symptoms. In other words, immune mechanisms are activated, which gives grounds to classify milk protein as an allergen, and in this case it is appropriate and correct to consider that this is an allergy to milk.
Lactose "triggers" slightly different mechanisms. Some people may have problems with the presence of an enzyme whose main activity is aimed at breaking down sugars entering the body. We are talking about lactase. With hypolactasia (low lactase content) or alactasia (complete absence of the enzyme), the body cannot cope with the breakdown of lactose, which means it does not perceive it, cannot digest it, break it down to the level of simpler sugars - glucose and galactose, in order to assimilate it, so it is forced to take measures to urgently evacuate the "difficult" component.
The "indignation" of the body, when milk sugar enters it, is expressed in the manifestation of flatulence, colic along the entire length of the intestine, frequent loose stools. In some cases, the symptoms may be similar to allergies, but basically, everything is limited to intestinal imbalance. And the more and more often lactose enters such an organism, the stronger and longer the symptoms will be, ultimately leading to severe exhaustion. Summarizing the described process, we note that the entire mechanism of lactose intolerance is based on a violation of metabolic processes, without immune participation. It follows that milk sugar, lactose, cannot be considered an allergen. Thus, an allergy to milk develops only in response to the action of the protein included in its composition.
How is milk allergy treated?
Milk allergy, at any age, is rarely subjected to special therapy. The main treatment is to select a diet suitable for each specific case. Exclusion from the diet of products included in the list of highly allergenic is a forced step. The inclusion of protein products begins gradually, in small doses, monitoring the body's reaction. An indispensable condition is keeping a food diary, which will reflect each stage of treatment measures, the body's response to the dietary dishes taken.
In the case of a breastfed baby, the mother adheres to the diet. When the child eats independently, it is advisable to choose a hypoallergenic diet for him. In addition to the diet, enzymatic agents, drugs that improve digestion, enhance the intestinal microflora, and immunostimulants are prescribed. In situations of progressive allergies, antihistamines and ointments based on corticosteroids are indicated to relieve skin manifestations.
How to prevent milk allergy?
The best prevention of allergic reactions, in cases where the allergen is known exactly, is to exclude the possibility of this allergen entering the body. Based on this, the only advice that can be given to people who have an allergy to milk is to make up their diet in such a way that it does not include dairy-based products.