“Early evidence suggests that whey protein might also help prevent milk allergies in formula-fed infants. When compared to cow’s milk protein, whey may help prevent the development of atopic dermatitis or eczema in young children.” ~WebMD
A famous milk poem from 1805
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away
Curds and whey are what milk is comprised of. 80% of milk is comprised of curds also known as casein which are the lumps that can be used to make cheese and 20% of the milk is whey, the watery liquid remaining. The whey can be separated from the casein by chemical or natural methods. A natural method, for example, would be to add lemon juice to milk. It is far more common to be allergic to casein than whey. While it may be difficult to produce or even find a 100 percent natural and 100 percent casein free whey protein isolate powder in any store, search online for a natural, casein free undenatured whey isolate protein which will naturally include the amino acids Alanine, Arginine, Aspartic Acid , Cysteine, Glutamic Acid, Glycine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, and Valine
Whey There are reasons why athletes and those very knowledgeable about health consider whey the gold standard. Whey, a protein complex derived from milk can be part of a casein free diet if the whey is separated 100 percent from the casein. Whey is a complete protein with an extremely high biological value rich in all the essential amino acids and is quickly absorbed by the human body. The biological components of whey, including lactoferrin, betalactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, glycomacropeptide, and immunoglobulins, demonstrate a range of immune-enhancing properties. In addition, whey has the ability to act as an antioxidant, antihypertensive, antitumor, hypolipidemic, antiviral, antibacterial, and chelating agent.
The primary mechanism by which whey is thought to exert its effects is by intracellular conversion of the amino acid cysteine to glutathione, a potent intracellular antioxidant. A number of clinical trials have successfully been performed using whey. Whey protein has also exhibited benefit in the arena of exercise performance and enhancement Whey is a “fast-acting” protein, according to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, which means that the body digests it quickly and easily. That makes whey especially beneficial for stimulating muscle growth and development, in conjunction with regular strength training. Whey can also help improve body composition. In 2011, “The Journal of Nutrition” published the results of a study in which overweight adults who supplemented their regular diets with whey experienced body fat loss and waist circumference reductions over a 23-week trial period. Whey protein has the highest biological value (the proportion of absorbed protein that’s retained in the body for maintenance and growth) of any protein, which means it’s highly usable by the body. Whey protein also is one of the richest sources of leucine, an essential and branched-chain amino acid that triggers initiation of muscle protein synthesis. Whey is being touted as a functional food with a number of health benefits and it’s:
- Complete protein – Whey contains the full spectrum of all the essential amino acids. This is key for muscle function and growth
- Higher in Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) – These specific amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) stimulate muscle growth and maintenance
- Supports detoxification – Whey is higher in the amino acid cysteine which is the key precursor to glutathione, a powerful detoxifier and antioxidant.
- Boosts the immune system – Our immune cells require amino acids to be produced, but whey contains special molecules called immunoglobulins that stimulate immune function.
- “Whey is rich in immunoglobulins, alpha-lactalbumin, and beta-lactalbumin and other immune boosting factors “Lactoferrin exhibits a wide range of antimicrobial and immunotropic properties. It facilitates iron absorption, promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and suppresses the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Additionally, lactoferrin confers resistance against proteolytic degradation in the alimentary tract.”
- Most consider it better tasting than veggie proteins
People with Celiac Disease can eat a casein free whey
Author Lisa Geng needed a special diet due to celiac
Celiac runs in my mom’s side of the family. I was a child that was diagnosed years ago with a “rare disease” named Celiac Disease. I almost died from it prior to the doctors at the hospital figuring out what was wrong with me. Not only was I diagnosed with it, but my brother was diagnosed with it as well and my mother was told that if my little sister was diagnosed with celiac disease she would end up in the Guinness Book of World Records. Prior to the diagnosis, my mother used to hug me as this weak, thin baby that oddly enough didn’t cry and say “Don’t die, Lisa, don’t die” before having to leave me yet again in the hospital where I spent much of my early years. Ironically once they knew the diagnosis and the special diet I needed to be on to keep me alive, my mother said that people used to look at her like a monster keeping this pathetically thin child from eating the foods other children loved. It used to be believed that if you outlived celiac you’d outgrow it by the age of four, (remission) but it can come back later in life. I lived most of my life never knowing anyone else with celiac disease until I got involved with outreach for my own children with autism and other special needs through the Cherab Foundation. Like autism and apraxia, perhaps the definition of celiac has morphed over the past few decades. One thing for sure, it’s certainly no longer considered rare! The other thing is I know quite a few people with celiac who do wonderful on a casein free whey.
Any allergy should be taken seriously. The symptoms of milk allergy are often mild and can affect any part of the body. They can include rashes, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps, however, in severe cases symptoms of milk allergy can be anaphylaxis shock. But even if your child has a milk allergy, you want to know what aspect of the milk your child is allergic to. Cow’s milk is comprised of both casein and whey and testing will let you know if your child is allergic to the casein or the whey, or both. If you have a child that can’t drink milk due to a true milk allergy, it is prudent to seek professional nutritional advice. Avoiding milk and milk products should not be done without properly replacing the nutrients milk supplies growing bodies and bones. For the two percent that has a milk allergy in preschool years, many of these children will outgrow this allergy by five years old.
There is also current research which finds that certain exposures may be beneficial as you can read in the following Chicago Tribune article Aging out of allergies Sensitivities can fall away, and sometimes treatment involves cozying up to the enemy
From Science Magazine “For some children, even trace amounts of peanuts can be deadly. But so far, kids suffering from peanut allergies have no treatment options other than avoiding the legumes completely. The results of a new clinical trial may change that. Scientists have found that feeding allergic children small amounts of peanut protein every day, an approach known as oral immunotherapy, can help them lead a normal life.”
And a quote from another article in Forbes “Dr. Kari Nadeau is doing what looks like the unthinkable. An allergy specialist and associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford University, Nadeau has been conducting a trial in which she is giving select patients — children — the foods they are allergic to in increasing doses over two to three years in order to induce a tolerance to the allergen. The result? “Now they can eat foods that were causing life-threatening episodes before,” Nadeau explained at a recent conference at Stanford.”
If milk elimination as a “trial” is being suggested for your child by other parents, or even a professional, without testing, you may want to learn a bit more about some of the important nutrients milk provides to your child’s growing body and brain. But first you may want to know that the journal Pediatrics published ‘Therapies for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders” three different government funded studies that analyzed autism research from 2000 to 2010 for “Pharmacologic and Complementary-Alternative Medicine” While Omega 3s were one of the only four things found “promising” in the thousand page report, gluten and or casein diets used when not needed as treatment was found not to be effective. Why subject a child to any social isolation of a restrictive diet, in addition to potential health risks if not done properly if your child doesn’t have a diagnosis of celiac or a true allergy to dairy? ~from the Executive Summary or Full Report
“Mulloy and colleagues review of gluten free and/or casein free diets{, #6084} included 14 studies (including the Elder and Knivsberg trials) collectively including 188 participants ranging from 2 to 17 years of age. Most participants (93 percent) were diagnosed with autism or Asperger syndrome. Twelve studies examined GFCF diets while one assessed a gluten free and one a casein free regime. Diets were followed across studies for a mean of 10 months (range 4 days to 4 years), and four studies also included additional interventions such as vitamin supplementation, chelation, and behavior modification. Review investigators characterized the certainty of evidence of studies based on study design and methodological rigor, rating studies as suggestive, preponderant, or conclusive in line with classifications developed by Simeonsson and Bailey{, #6011} and Smith; 11 studies were rated as suggestive. Methodological concerns included use of measurements subject to bias, lack of blinding and control groups, use of only post-treatment measures, short intervention durations, and failure to control for the effects of maturation. Investigators considered 3 studies as providing a level of certainty of evidence for the lack of effectiveness of GFCF diets. Overall, the review authors conclude that the evidence supporting GFCF diets in ASD is limited and weak.”
A 2013 systematic review of gluten and autism found:
Currently, there is insufficient evidence to support instituting a gluten-free diet as a treatment for autism.
A 2008 Cochrane review of gluten and casein-free diets in autism found:
Current evidence for efficacy of these diets is poor.
And a 2014 review of the same concluded:
We observed that the evidence on this topic is currently limited and weak. We recommend that it should be only used after the diagnosis of an intolerance or allergy to foods containing the allergens excluded in gluten-free, casein-free diets.
The reason you want protein is for the essential amino acids. Whey protein isolate is the gold standard of protein as each serving not only contains all of the essential amino acids but is easily digestible. Meat protein may not contain all of the essential amino acids, and it’s harder to digest, one reason perhaps for this study for autism where powder is suggested to be added to food to help break down protein. Again the use of a protein such as a natural GFCF whey isolate is serving a protein that is already easily digestible. As we know now from those with gut issues, it’s not only what you eat but what you digest and can utilize that is important. An easily digestible protein source that contains all of the essential amino acids is also extremely important for any with a neurologically based disorder or injury based on these essential amino acids being linked in numerous studies to improvements in cognitive functioning and even neuro repair.
Due to the rise in numerous parents pulling children off of milk for “unfounded milk elimination trials,” there has been an increase in children with weak, brittle bones, short stature, and obesity as documented in a number of recent studies. The side effect of milk elimination if not done properly is most likely more severe than the child’s original condition.
Here’s the conclusion to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition “Children who avoid drinking cow milk have low dietary calcium intakes and poor bone health”
“In growing children, long-term avoidance of cow milk is associated with small stature and poor bone health. This is a major concern that warrants further study. The high proportion of overweight and obese children in the present study was an unexpected finding, particularly because many of the children had been breastfed for prolonged periods. Recent studies suggest that low dietary calcium intakes can stimulate lipogenesis and inhibit lipolysis simultaneously, resulting in the accumulation of body fat. In summary, our study of young male and female prepubertal children with a long history of avoiding cow-milk consumption has identified major problems in bone health (eg, small bones, low aBMD and volumetric BMAD, and a high prevalence of bone fractures) that many health professionals and members of the general public appear to be unaware of. Short stature and high adiposity were other health concerns.”
Another similar report in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism Multiple Bone Fractures in an 8-Year-Old Child with Cow’s Milk Allergy and Inappropriate Calcium Supplementation is a case study of an 8-year-old boy with severe bone mass reduction and 4 fractures as a result of an unsupervised diet of milk elimination.
According to the National Dairy Council “Approximately 2% of the pediatric population is affected by cow’s milk allergy. Moreover, the condition tends to be outgrown by 5 years of age. In contrast to cow’s milk allergy, which occurs primarily in infancy and young childhood, lactose intolerance (symptoms) seldom occurs prior to preadolescence.”
And here is yet another study published in Pediatric Dermatology that documents just how many parents assumed their growing child allergic to milk when there was no milk allergy present “Unnecessary Milk Elimination Diets in Children with Atopic Dermatitis” (Volume 24 Issue 1 Page 1-6, January/February 2007)
The Children were followed up at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months and “Of the 206 patients…Four patients on the milk-free diet (8.9%), accounting for 2.2% of all patients, were found to be allergic. confirming that this measure is being applied excessively.
The same low percentage was found in this research paper published in Current Allergy and Asthma Reports Journal “CM allergy alone affects. 1% to 3%”
Some of the documented health problems from dairy elimination not done properly from the South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition
“For example, milk elimination diets are frequently adopted in the treatment of atopic dermatitis when the actual prevalence of cow’s milk allergy in patients on milk elimination diets may be significantly lower than the number of patients prescribed such diets.2 Elimination of any major food, without considering its nutritional implications, has the potential to result in harm. In fact, there are a number of scenarios which may impact adversely on the diet of an individual and/or other family members (Table I)…
For example, mothers may restrict milk intake, to assist their breastfed milk-allergic infants. However, this may have unintended consequences that become clinically significant; particularly if a mother’s mean levels of calcium and vitamin D intake are below the adequate intake level. Milk restriction has been shown to compromise protein and the intake of other nutrients in lactating women who restricted milk to < 250 ml per day, affecting vitamin D, calcium, thiamin, riboflavin and zinc intake…
Elimination diets, in particular, are potentially hazardous to children, with cases of rickets, kwashiorkor, and vitamin and mineral deficiency having been reported in the literature. Both vitamin D-deficient rickets and calcium-deficient rickets are well-described, separate entities, and have been reported in children with cows’ milk allergy who are not receiving adequate supplementation.6,30,31,32
There are cultures that are very healthy without any dairy as this article states, but you may want to find other methods to appeal to today’s child.
“Yet it is possible to attain optimal health without dairy foods. Price discovered groups using no dairy foods that had complete resistance to dental decay and chronic disease; their diets invariably included other rich sources of animal fats, calcium, and other minerals. The soft ends of long bones were commonly chewed, and the shafts and other bones were used in soups.”
You can find a natural, casein free undenatured whey isolate protein,
One parent from Canada has a child who tested allergic to whey (which is not common) and who spent thousands upon thousands on various therapies and treatments including bio-med, special diets, and hyperbaric treatment. She gave permission to share here about her experience using a meal replacement powder that is a combination of a natural, casein free undenatured whey isolate protein together with the Ayurvedic foods Turmeric, Amalaki, Haritaki, Gymnema, Green Tea, Guggul, Cocoa, Cinnamon, and Cayenne Pepper. Her doctors are not sure if the added ayurvedic ingredients raised her child’s tolerance to the casein free whey which she had tested allergic to previously.
“Wasted a year”
“Hi All,
It has been a long time since I have posted. I felt that I must post now I a lot has changed. I have tried everything. My little buddy is not autistic but did have some autistic like quirks. I have done homeopathy, hyperbarics, methyl B12 injections, SCD diet, everything! He was still essentially non-verbal.
About a year ago I added a natural, casein free undenatured whey isolate protein together with the ayuvedic foods Turmeric, Amalaki, Haritaki, Gymnema, Green Tea, Guggul, Cocoa, Cinnamon, and Cayenne Pepper. to my son’s diet, and even though he’s gluten and casein free he did great.
At that time he had just started to have improvements with speech, digestion and cognition. About 2 weeks in I got an allergy report back, it said that my son was allergic to whey. So, I removed the natural, casein free undenatured whey isolate protein together with the ayuvedic foods Turmeric, Amalaki, Haritaki, Gymnema, Green Tea, Guggul, Cocoa, Cinnamon, and Cayenne Pepper. from his diet.
Shortly after the improvements we had just started to notice left us and we were back to the tedious grind stone of the many therapies he was in.
We have a new DAN doc who wanted us to do a MORA allergy test. It is kind of like a muscle test for those familiar. The lady who preformed it said I could bring some individual items that she could test on him. I brought the meal replacement powder which was a combination of natural, casein free undenatured whey isolate protein together with the ayuvedic foods Turmeric, Amalaki, Haritaki, Gymnema, Green Tea, Guggul, Cocoa, Cinnamon, and Cayenne Pepper.. She tested 3 time as she couldn’t believe it. He had a strong reaction to whey but not this meal replacement powder with whey.
I put him back on that day. That was 2 1/2 weeks ago. I am so mad that I ever took him off of it!
He is doing amazing with this added nutrition.
This week we have crossed 3 goals off the list this week. He can now jump with 2 feet off the bottom stair, he can kick a soccer ball and he finger painted! (huge sensory thing, could not stand to have messy fingers)
I had an IPP meeting on Friday and all his therapists agreed that the last 2 weeks have been huge. I didn’t share with them about nutritional strategies. From a speech stand point, much more vocalizations. He had been putting 3 words together before, now he is now doing this without prompting. He is like a little parrot as well, trying to repeat things that I say.
The other thing I noticed was facial expression changes. He smirked the other day? He has always had the big expressions, the big smile, the big pout but nothing in between. OMG, as I am writing this I just remembered, we started potty training on Monday. No problems. He is 3.5 years old. He is not great at self initiating, but all thing considered we are pleased.
I am just so excited. He is really appearing more and more like a typical little boy. Some things are hard to put into words, he is just different.
When we would go to his gym class before he would look around in amazement and not focus on anything,I took him yesterday and he focused on what ever the task was. No gazing around. He even tried to talk to another little boy!
I am so thankful for this meal replacement powder that is a blend of natural, casein free undenatured whey isolate protein together with the ayuvedic foods Turmeric, Amalaki, Haritaki, Gymnema, Green Tea, Guggul, Cocoa, Cinnamon, and Cayenne Pepper.. I am hopeful again.
For those who haven’t yet tried it, just try. You never know? For those who tried it the past and gave up, try it again.
Thanks,
Anni”
Various Milks
The most common alternative to cow’s milk in the US is goat’s milk. And in addition, there are those that find raw milk to be preferable over milk that is pasteurized and homogenized. There is much debate which weighs the potential health risks vs the known health benefits of raw milk. I believe The Udder Truth published in Salon does a great job of presenting the full story pros and cons. Dr. Ron Paul, an American physician and Republican Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas, ran for President of the US and one of his platforms was to legalize raw milk.
Dr. Ron Paul introduced bill H.R.778 “To authorize the interstate traffic of unpasteurized milk and milk products that are packaged for direct human consumption.”
But that bill has not passed and currently, there are still strict government laws prohibiting the sale of use of raw milk for much of the American public. Regulations to the point that armed guards have been sent in. All of this is in spite of studies that definitively link raw milk to health benefits.
Is there a way to eliminate any potential health risks of raw milk while preserving the many known health benefits that are destroyed from today’s treatment method of pasteurization and homogenization? While there has been an increase in allergies, raw milk has been found to help prevent the allergy epidemic”.
Can farm milk consumption prevent allergic diseases?
C. Braun-Fahrländer and E. von Mutius, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, January, 2011 (41) 29–35.
Summary
Cow’s milk is an important part of human diet and a source of food allergy for some individuals. Medical guidance strongly discourages consumption of raw milk because of the known health risk associated with pathogenic bacteria present in unpasteurized milk. Despite these risks there is a growing body of epidemiological evidence suggesting that consumption of unprocessed cow’s milk does not increase but rather decreases the risk of asthma, hay fever and atopic sensitisation. The article reviews the epidemiological literature and discusses components of unprocessed milk potentially responsible for this protection. It focuses on the role of bacteria in raw milk, the fatty acid profile, whey proteins and finally the role of allergens in milk. Although the epidemiological evidence consistently suggest a protective role of unprocessed cow’s milk consumption on the development of asthma, hay fever and atopic sensitization the underlying mechanisms are not yet understood and the consumption of raw milk cannot be recommended as a preventive measure for allergic diseases.
And while the FDA monitors what milk we consume from a cow or a goat, what about the milk that we as mother’s now produce? We are now aware that as pregnant women we carry toxins through to the placenta, and also through our breast milk as well.
“Chemical contaminants in breast milk: time trends and regional variability”
And one study from the NRDC Chemical Pollution and Mother’s Milk The Chemicals, One by One
In general you want to know what nutrients you are consuming and what you are eliminating because as Dr. Russell L. Blaylock MD, a neurosurgeon and author says, the nutrients you eat or don’t eat can affect your health and your child’s health in a positive or negative way. In the following video, Dr. Blaylock speaks about the importance of nutrition on brain health and repair