330: Everything You Need To Know About Dairy Allergy (In Food + Skincare Products)

The Healthy Skin Show

If you have a dairy allergy, it probably doesn’t surprise you that it’s one of the more complex common food allergies.

While there are 25 proteins in milk (yes, you read that right!), only a handful have been shown to trigger antibody production against them.

Now, remember that a dairy allergy is different from being lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is considered a non-allergic reaction to milk products that can lead to uncomfortable GI symptoms like bloating, gas, and diarrhea.

Anaphylactic dairy allergy symptoms include hives, swelling, coughing, wheezing, nausea, and vomiting, and these usually manifest shortly after you eat the food containing dairy.

BUT this is where it gets confusing.

There are several non-IgE-mediated milk allergy symptoms that affect the gastrointestinal tract. These reactions are immune-mediated…which can make it really difficult to differentiate between lactose intolerance and a true milk products allergy.

Dr. Stacy Silvers returns to the podcast to clear up some confusion surrounding the complexity of dairy allergy. He’s a board-certified allergist specializing in environmental and food allergy diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. And he oversees the allergy program and protocols, and also leads the food allergy and oral immunotherapy (OIT) program at Aspire Allergy & Sinus.

Dr. Silvers is considered an expert in the field of food allergy diagnosis and treatment and I’m THRILLED to share this interview with you!

In This Episode:

• Are there specific milk proteins that cause dairy allergy symptoms?
• A1 casein vs A2 casein in dairy (which is better tolerated?)
• Can you have a dairy allergy to whey protein?
• Testing options to figure out a dairy allergy
• If you have a milk products allergy, are you only allergic to cow’s milk?
• Can you stop dairy allergies? (OH BOY!)
• Dairy in topical products IF you have a dairy allergy

Quotes

“When you're looking at anaphylactic reactions to milk, there is a very, very high likelihood of there being cross-reactivity between cow's milk, goat, and sheep's milk. 90%, 95% of the time, if you react to cow's milk, you’ll react to those other milks.”

“What we find is the majority of infants or toddlers who have a milk allergy do have it resolved as they get older…It's roughly 50% will have it resolved by age six, according to one study. And it can oftentimes get better as the years go on after that.”

Links

Find Dr. Silvers online

Follow Aspire Allergy on Instagram

Healthy Skin Show ep. 269: Allergy Testing: Everything You Need To Know w/ Dr. Stacy Silvers

Healthy Skin Show ep. 327: Demystifying Food Allergy Signs, Symptoms + Skin Rash w/ Dr. Ruchi Gupta

Additional Research:

Cow Milk Allergy

Modulation of Milk Allergenicity by Baking Milk in Foods: A Proteomic Investigation

Food Allergies and Cross-Reactivity

Chapter

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Why dairy allergy is so complex (00:01:10)

3. Lactose intolerance vs dairy allergy (00:04:47)

4. Testing for dairy allergy (00:09:43)

5. Does dairy allergy only refer to cow's milk? (00:13:28)

6. Who is most affected by dairy allergies? (00:17:09)

7. Is it possible to prevent food allergy? (00:22:09)

8. Topical exposure to allergens can cause food allergy (00:25:10)

9. Final thoughts (00:29:47)