Dairy-free
| Milk allergy | |
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| A glass of cow's milk | |
| Specialty | emergency medicine |
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A milk allergy is a food allergy, an adverse immune reaction to one or more of the protein constituents of milk from any animal (most commonly alpha S1-casein, a protein in cow's milk). The body manifests either an antibody-based immune response or a cell-based immune response to these allergens. Antibody responses are usually rapid and can involve anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition. Cell-mediated responses take hours to days to appear.
A wide variety of foods can cause allergic reactions, but in the United States 90% of allergic responses to foods are caused by cow's milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish and soy. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004 requires that the label of a food that contains an ingredient that is or contains protein from these eight major food allergens declare the presence of the allergen in the manner described by the law. Lists can be different in different countries. The Japanese Guideline for Food Allergy includes buckwheat and fruit in a top ten list. The European Union requires labeling for the same eight as the United States plus celery, mustard, lupin beans, sesame seeds, sulfites (used as a wine preservative) and molluscs.
Milk allergy is a food allergy, an adverse immune reaction to a food protein that is normally harmless to the nonallergic individual.
Milk allergy is a distinct from lactose intolerance, which is a nonallergic food sensitivity, due to not enough of the enzyme lactase in the small intestines to break lactose down into glucose and galactose.
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Wikipedia