Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffThere's no sure way to prevent a food allergy from occurring in the first place — but you can prevent signs and symptoms by avoiding the food that causes them. If you know you or your child is allergic to milk, the only sure way to avoid an allergic reaction is to avoid milk products. Know what you or your child is eating and drinking. Be sure to read food labels carefully.
Some research suggests that breast-feeding during the first four months of a baby's life instead of giving a standard cow's milk formula can help prevent milk allergy.
In children who are allergic to milk, breast-feeding and use of hypoallergenic formula can prevent allergic reactions.
- Breast-feeding is the best source of nutrition for your child. Experts recommend breast-feeding for at least the first four to six months of life if possible, especially if your infant is at high risk of developing a milk allergy. Breast-feeding may reduce your baby's chance of developing a milk allergy. Your doctor may also recommend eliminating cow's milk from your diet while nursing your baby if you have a strong family history of food allergy.
- Hypoallergenic formulas are produced by using enzymes to break down (hydrolyze) milk proteins, such as casein or whey. Further processing can include heat and filtering. Depending on the level of processing, products are classified as either partially or extensively hydrolyzed. Or, they may also be called elemental formulas. Some hypoallergenic formulas aren't milk based, but instead contain amino acids. Along with extensively hydrolyzed products, amino-acid-based formulas are the least likely to cause an allergic reaction.
- Soy-based formulas are based on soy protein instead of milk. Soy formulas are fortified to be nutritionally complete — but, unfortunately, some children with a milk allergy also develop an allergy to soy.
Milk from other animals, such as goats or sheep, isn't a good substitute for cow's milk, as these types of milk contain proteins similar to the allergy-causing proteins in cow's milk. What's more, children who are allergic to cow's milk may also be allergic to soy milk.
If you're breast-feeding and your child has a milk allergy, cow's milk proteins passed through your breast milk may cause an allergic reaction. If this is the case, you may need to exclude all products that contain milk from your diet. Talk to your doctor if you know — or suspect — your child has a milk allergy and has allergy signs and symptoms that occur after breast-feeding.
If you or your child is on a milk-free diet, your doctor or dietitian can help you plan nutritionally balanced meals. You or your child may need to take supplements to replace calcium and nutrients found in milk, such as vitamin D and riboflavin.
Hidden sources of milk products
Allergy-causing milk proteins are found in dairy products, such as yogurt, cheese, butter, half-and-half and sour cream. But milk can be harder to identify when it's used as an ingredient in processed food products ranging from sausage to breakfast cereals. Hidden sources of milk include:
- Whey
- Casein
- Ingredients that contain the prefix "lact" — such as lactose and lactate
- Candies, such as chocolate, nougat and caramel
- Fat-replacement products, such as Simplesse
- Protein powders
- Artificial butter flavor
- Artificial cheese flavor
- Hydrosolate
Even if a food is labeled "milk-free" or "nondairy," it may still contain allergy-causing milk proteins — so you have to read the label carefully. When in doubt, contact the manufacturer to be sure a product doesn't contain milk ingredients.
When eating out, ask how foods have been prepared. Does your steak have melted butter on it? Was your seafood dipped in milk before being cooked?
While there's no sure way to prevent an allergic reaction to milk, reading labels, being cautious when eating out, and using hypoallergenic or milk-free products can help you or your child avoid an unpleasant or dangerous reaction.
If you're at risk of a serious allergic reaction, talk with your doctor about carrying and using emergency epinephrine (adrenaline). If you have already had a severe reaction, wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace that lets others know that you have a food allergy.
- Atopic and allergic disorders. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec13/ch165/ch165c.html?qt=milk allergy&alt=sh. Accessed June 9, 2009.
- Food allergy: An overview. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodAllergy/PDF/foodallergy.pdf. Accessed June 9, 2009.
- Sicherer SH. Food allergens: Overview of clinical features and crossreactivity. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 22, 2009.
- Chapman JA, et al. Food allergy: A practice parameter. 2006; 96: S1.
- Kurowski K, et al. Food allergies: Detection and management. American Family Physician. 2008;77:1678.
- Tips to remember: Food allergy. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. http://www.aaaai.org/patients/publicedmat/tips/foodallergy.stm. Accessed June 9, 2009.
- Keet CA, et al. Food allergy and anaphylaxis. Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America. 2007;27:193.
- Food allergy in infants and children. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodAllergy/understanding/children.htm. Accessed June 9, 2009.
- Thygarajan A, et al. American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations on the effects of early nutritional interventions on the development of atopic disease. Current Opinion in Pediatrics. 2008;20:698.
- Milk allergy. Food Allergy Initiative. http://www.faiusa.org/?page=milk. Accessed June 10, 2009.
