Is it just lactose intolerance?

Laboratory of Allergy and Experimental Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.

Allergy and asthma proceedings : the official journal of regional and state allergy societies 2012 Sep-Oct

filter terms:

Acquired delayed-onset hypolactasia is a common autosomal recessive condition. Cow's milk allergies, conversely, are less common conditions that may manifest with equivalent symptoms and are able to simulate and/or aggravate lactose intolerance. This study was designed to evaluate the contribution of IgE-mediated cow's milk sensitization to the symptomatology of adult patients with lactose-free diet refractory lactose intolerance. Forty-six adult patients with lactose intolerance and persistent symptoms despite a lactose-free diet underwent skin-prick test to investigate cow's milk, goat's milk, and soy protein-specific-IgE. SDS-PAGE immunoblotting was used to investigate the presence of cow's milk protein-specific IgE. The percentage of patients who had skin reactions to whole cow's milk, alpha-lactalbumin, beta-lactoglobulin, caseins, goat's milk, and soy was 69.5, 36.9, 56.5, 56.5%, 54.3, and 50%, respectively. The percentage of patients with immunoblot-detected IgE specific for alpha-lactalbumin, beta-lactoglobulin, caseins, and bovine serum albumin was 21.7, 63, 67.3, and 2.1%, respectively. IgE-mediated sensitization to cow's milk is a frequent comorbidity in subjects with lactose-free diet refractory lactose intolerance and is worth consideration in patients with this condition.

Citation

Celso Eduardo Olivier, Sônia Letícia Silva Lorena, Célia Regina Pavan, Raquel Acácia Pereira Gonçalves dos Santos, Regiane Patussi dos Santos Lima, Daiana Guedes Pinto, Mariana Dias da Silva, Ricardo de Lima Zollner. Is it just lactose intolerance? Allergy and asthma proceedings : the official journal of regional and state allergy societies. 2012 Sep-Oct;33(5):432-6