Anyone have any luck with asthma/allergies by removing cow's milk from diet?

[StacyWithFourRugrats]

I heard today from our speech therapist that drinking cow's milk can make allergies and asthma worse. Her family drinks rice milk (she doesn't care for soy milk).

I have thought about switching over to rice milk to see how that helps with the allergies and asthma in our family (we just started taking our respective allergy and asthma medicines).

Can we still keep eating cheese and butter tho and just see how it goes with only removing the cow's milk (the children drink it twice a day)? I can't imagine trying to go totally dairy free. We love our cheese and butter.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[Whisperlily]

I wish I could help you!

My allergy/asthma kids are allergic to dairy anyway, so I have no idea if it helps. We still have problems without dairy.

[Doran]

I heard today from our speech therapist that drinking cow's milk can make allergies and asthma worse. Her family drinks rice milk (she doesn't care for soy milk)....

Our issue isn't asthma and allergies, per se. My 13 year old has what we would call RAD (Reactive Airway Disorder/Disease) though she's never been formally diagosed. When she was very small, we'd treat w/ albuterol syrup every time she developed a cold because she'd simultaneously develop wheezing and bronchiole (sp?) constriction. As she got older, she seemed to grow out of it until 2 years ago when she developed pneumonia after a particularly bad cold. From that first incident to a year later, she had the big P three times! After the third, we decided to try going wheat and dairy free (well, nearly) for her based on advice similar to what your therapist has offered.

Dd has been such a trooper and has really taken ownership of her diet. She is not OFF dairy or wheat, but they are severely limited, esp. in comparison to what she used to consume, which was a diet very lopsided in those two foods. Now, she avoids them almost completely but allows herself some liberties here and there, particularly on weekends. Her goal, when she indulges, is to not eat "off limits" foods for two consecutive days if she can possibly avoid it.

The good news? She had three colds this winter and managed to get through two without such issue. She did end up with pneumonia on the third one, which happened to be the flu that everyone caught, so it was a real whopper of a sickness. One round of antibiotics was all she needed, coupled with nebulized albuterol. We were, at first, pretty disappointed when she got that diagnosis, but now I realize that I wasn't seeing the positive side. She made it almost a full year, to the day, between incidents. So that's real progress!!

Our family diet has been affected a lot by the one child's changes. We've all become much more aware of what we eat, and how much (too much) wheat and dairy we used to consume. We've all cut way down on our consumption of "the forbidden foods" in an effort to support dd. I'd say for your family, it's worth a try. If it just decreases your problems and increases your chances of not having an attack, that's good, right?

We were highly motivated to do just about anything to keep her off a regular steroid dose and such recurrent issues with pneunonia. I'm glad we did it.

JMHO,
Doran

[Karen in CO]

I had terrible asthma until I had to quit dairy while I was nursing my dd. After a few weeks, I quit having to use my rescue inhaler. After a few months, I cut down then quit my daily medicine. I still have trouble when the ragweed blooms, but it really helped me to be able to control it better.

I can't answer about cheese or butter for you. I can eat yogurt and aged cheeses without a problem. To see if it works, you would probably have to quit all dairy for a few weeks. Start reading labels and lookup other names for dairy ingredients - whey and casein are among the common ingredients that don't jump up and say "I'm dairy" but are.

[Amy in Orlando]

I have one (maybe two) with dairy issues. We do a lot like Doran does. My son is 14 and he's well[aware of how much better he feels when he is not eating dairy. It's not a life-threatening issue for him and we give im some freedom. If he want to go to a Scout party and eat pizza, he owns that cheese hangover.

For me and for my son, it's made a huge difference cutting out dairy.

[Jean in Newcastle]

To see if it works, you would probably have to quit all dairy for a few weeks. Start reading labels and lookup other names for dairy ingredients - whey and casein are among the common ingredients that don't jump up and say "I'm dairy" but are.

I agree that you should quit all dairy for a few weeks (you can go without it for that long can't you?!) Then add one dairy product back at a time. Try milk first. If milk itself is a problem, then of course avoid that. Test butter and cheese separately. Sometimes someone who has problems with dairy can tolerate hard cheeses. But really if you become asthma/allergy free with no dairy, it really isn't worth it to have an asthma attack again.

There are other alternatives to dairy. Rice milk is a good one. (There are also soy, oat, almond and hazelnut milks to choose from). There are soy and rice and almond "cheeses". There are goat and sheep cheeses that might be ok. There are soy yogurts and goat milk yogurts (though you have to search for the goat milk yogurt). There are goat butters and non-dairy margarines (look for one marked vegan). There are even non-dairy ice-cream - Tofutti anyone?! (And there is even a rice ice cream though I think it has a horrible after-taste!)

[MJN]

products produce more mucous, plus you have the hormones issue if you don't use organic products. It is very hard to deny dairy, esp. in the summer time w/ ice cream, but they've seen the results. For them, it's worth it. We all have our own nasal spray from NOW that washes our noses from allergens and take Ester C on a daily basis. For the most part, we stay well. This year has been a little more tough (you might have read my whiney post yesterday), but what we find is that dd and dh might get a cold, but it doesn't turn into bronchitis or pneumonia like it was w/ the steriods and inhalers. They are able to recover much easier. OK, I'm getting long winded here. HTH!

[abbeyej]

All the research I've seen suggests that dairy is not a problem except for people it's a problem for. Lol... I mean, one can have asthma that's totally unrelated to dairy. Or one can have asthma that *is* related to dairy. It's worth going off dairy for a while then introducing a large amount suddenly to see if you can observe differences. If it works for you or someone in your family, that's great. But you might simply not be allergic or sensitive to dairy in any way and still have asthma.

The evidence is stronger that *everyone* with asthma benefits from cutting out trans fats completely and eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Refined sugar and flour increase inflamation and in turn exacerbate asthma, so anyone with asthma (and well, lol, anyone) will benefit from a diet that totally eliminates trans fats and severely restricts refined sugar and flour while increasing fresh fruits and vegetables.

[Ellie]

When my dds were babies, I could not drink any milk the whole time I was nursing. My older dd cannot have dairy in any form (although real butter might not be a problem; I'll have to ask her). She has asthma, and she can feel herself clogging up just from a cup of coffee with CoffeeMate in it, which only has caseinate (sp????), a dairy by-product. My younger dd cannot have yogurt; too much cheese will cause her to have severe stomach cramps. She never drinks milk straight.

A friend eliminated all dairy, before she and her dh had children. Her dh's face was so red from acne that his nickname since high school had been Red. She didn't expect the results of her elimination diet would be that her dh's skin would clearn up such that some people didn't even recognize him.

If you suspect any kind of dairy allergy, I'd eliminate it completely for a month and see what happens. Personally, I wouldn't substitute rice milk, or any other kind of milk. I'd just serve something else.

Some people who cannot tolerate dairy--whether they are allergic or intolerant--can handle butter; some cannot. After the first month, you can try it and see how your dc do.

[strider]

The difference in allergic response and asthma is significant for me. I generally swear off ALL milk products in May and June, August and September. Sometimes if it's a really bad year I just stay off dairy through July, too, but there have been some years that I have been able to have ice cream in July.

I have tested the theory from time to time during those key allergy months by having an ice cream cone or cheese or whatever. It's pretty bad when I do. It doesn't take long for me to start getting stuffy, and the day after my little indiscretion is MISERABLE with a runny nose and puffy, runny eyes.

I happily eat all kinds of cheese and milk products all winter without any ill effects.

Any milk product will increase mucous production/output. So if you are having an allergic response (drippy eyes or nose) then yes, milk products will make it worse.

[abbeyej]

I have tested the theory from time to time during those key allergy months by having an ice cream cone or cheese or whatever. It's pretty bad when I do. ...
I happily eat all kinds of cheese and milk products all winter without any ill effects.

Yes, any time you pile allergic reactions on top of each other, the end result will be much worse than the allergies individually. During times when environmental allergens (which I can't do much to control) are overwhelming for ds, we have to be more careful with the minor food allergens that I can typically be a little looser with.

[KristineIN]

I've gone off of milk products to see if it would help me, and it hasn't. I still don't drink much milk, but it does not make a difference, I think it just depends on the person.

Kristine