Dairy Allergies, Lactose Intolerance and Candida

The Dairy and Lactose Confusion

When most people talk of dairy allergies, they are usually talking about lactose intolerance. That is, trouble digesting the milk sugar called lactose.

A true dairy allergy means you are not able to eat any dairy product such as cow's milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cream, butter, ice cream or even food that contains whey, or milk products.

What Lactose Intolerance Is...

Lactose intolerance affects between 30-50 million people in the US alone. It is a huge problem for many people and is very common.
But, it is not a true allergy because it doesn't affect the immune system. If you have lactose intolerance, you don't have enough of the lactase enzyme.

This digestive lactase enzyme is what you need to properly digest lactose - the sugar found in cows milk and dairy products (products made from cow's milk).

When you have a lactose intolerance (also known as a food or lactose sensitivity), you have a delayed, negative reaction to something you eat or drink.

When you have a food intolerance, you usually have to eat more of the offending food before you feel a reaction to it.

This intolerance is usually due to missing enzymes or chemicals in your digestive system that help you digest the food properly such as the lactase digestive enzyme.

Your body may respond to intolerant foods with symptoms of nausea, cramping, bloating, gas, diarrhea, burping and flatulence.

But, a lactose intolerance is not a dairy allergy.

What A Dairy Allergy Is...

When you have a dairy allergy, you react to the ingested dairy food within minutes. Your immune system overreacts to proteins in that food. It's like you have a hyperactive immune system response to the food because your body considers it a foreign substance and potentially harmful.

Dairy allergies are when your body reacts to the milk proteins which are casein and whey.

Dairy is one of the most common food allergies. Dairy allergies and lactose intolerance are connected with Candida. If you have Candida your overwhelmed system may be more susceptible and sensitive to food. Or if you have untreated or undiagnosed food troubles, your inflamed digestive tract may be the perfect host for Candida overgrowth.

What can you do?

Now what?

First work on determining what type of food is causing you trouble? Our food allergy page goes into more detail on how to do this.

Once you know dairy is the problem, there is lots you can do!

The most common yeast infection diets eliminate dairy and milk products in the first phase.

Because dairy allergies are one of the eight most common food allergies and lactose intolerance is so common, people often find cutting dairy out of their diet helps them feel better and improves their Candida and other symptoms.

Later in the yeast infection diet, dairy can be re-introduced. Many people are able to tolerate dairy again once their systems are cleared of Candida. Lactose intolerant people may be much more able to digest milk products. Some people can go back to eating dairy like they used to. Others, feel better by still cutting back on the amount of dairy they consume and just eating it occasionally. It depends on the severity of your intolerance or allergy.

Everyone is different and you will have to see what works best for you.

Try some of the different milks available. Just because something is called milk - doesn't mean it is from a cow. There are many milks in you local supermarket or grocery store that you can try.

• goat's milk (use with caution - there are some similarities to cow's milk)
• almond milk
• rice milk
• soy milk
• hemp milk
• coconut milk

Check out some of the soy products and cheeses. There are many soy and vegetarian products available these days. Watch for hidden ingredients such as casein in some soy cheeses. Also, read all labels - sometimes soy products are too processed for someone fighting Candida.

You could take lactase supplements. Lactase supplements are available in adult and child versions. Because lactose intolerance is so common, especially in children, there are also many different brands of lactose free products available in your local grocery store.

Look for dairy free on the label. Often, a true dairy free product will list is right on the label since so many people watch their dairy intake these days. You can find chips, salad dressings, and other types of food that are dairy free. Usually processed foods such as chocolate, salad dressings, processed meats, snack foods, margarines, butter or cheese flavoured foods all contain milk products - read your ingredient labels! Milk products can be listed as casein, whey, curds, kefir, butterfat, modified milk ingredients and others.

Do your own baking! Often recipes can handle substitutions. For example if you are able to eat wheat (or by using an alternate flour, make your own pancakes using almond milk or soy milk.

What about calcium? We are trained from infancy that we need to drink milk or eat dairy products in order to get enough calcium. But you have so many other alternatives! You can always take calcium supplements. But, you can also just eat foods rich in calcium such as almonds, broccoli, figs, sesame seeds, greens, haddock or carrots.

Try butter! Butter is made up of mostly fat with little milk left in it. You may be able to tolerate butter because of this high fat content.

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