Let’s Talk About Substitutes! 211a cow’s milk exclusion! Goat’s milk does little or nothing positive. But it does
keep a body off cow’s milk and that’s where the recovery comes from. Just
remember you read it here first!
The truth is, about half the people who react to cow’s milk also
react to goat’s milk. Almost certainly, in this instance the allergy is to the
casein protein and ewe’s milk will also be a problem.
On the other hand, some individuals are allergic to the phospholipids
fraction; the fatty part. They may possibly tolerate skimmed milk, which has
most of the fat removed.
Instead of walking a tightrope, it may be better to follow a
completely dairy-free path. In this case, look for milk-like substitutes from
differing sources.
Allergy and intolerance isn’t the only health problem with milk. For
a more comprehensive report on other health hazards in milk, take a look
at a stimulating website called http://www.notmilk.com. I agree with most of what
you will read there.
Lactose intolerance
Still others, as you may have heard, are not exactly “allergic” to milk but
have a lactose intolerance. That means they lack the enzyme called lactase
(alactasia), which the body uses to digest lactose in the gut. Typical symptoms
of this deficiency are abdominal pain and discomfort, bloating and wind.
The difficulty comes when new-born babies suffer lactose intolerance.
They may experience profuse diarrhea which can lead to life-threatening
dehydration and loss of vital electrolytes (body chemicals). Early research
into this problem was carried out in Manchester (UK) by my old professor
Aaron Holzel and we now understand the condition a lot better. Special
formulas are available for these infants and usually treatment is begun even
before they are discharged from the obstetric unit. Incidentally, I dated
Holzel’s daughter Helen – just for one evening!
Lactose (milk sugar) accounts for a startling twenty-five per cent of
all carbohydrate in the average Western diet. It is present as forty per cent
of milk solids (cow’s, goat’s and ewe’s). This percentage rises to over fifty
per cent in skimmed milk and whey but is less in whole cream and yoghurt.
Butter and cheese have almost no lactose.
Commercial buttermilk is usually made by fermenting skimmed
milk, which effectively reduces the lactose level of the skimmed milk by
some ten to fifteen per cent. However, buttermilk may have added dried or
condensed milk, which would of course alter the proportion of lactose.