Cow's Milk Allergy Diet

Avoid All Sources of Cow's Milk

In very young children, cow's milk is the leading cause of allergic reactions. Once you know your child has a cows-milk allergy, all milk and milk products must be completely removed from the diet. Not even small amounts should be eaten.

Avoid buying "deli" meats because the slicers may be used to cut both meat and cheese products. Also, some deli meats contain milk.

Another problem that is increasing is the presence of cross contaminants in processed foods. For example, recently three children have experienced allergic reactions after eating tofu ice cream. The ice cream had significant levels of cows milk protein in it. Tofu ice cream is not made with mills, but much of it is made in dairy plants, and the batch in question had been contaminated. To combat this problem, sensitive tests to detect small amounts of food proteins are being developed and will be useful in making sure that safe foods are really safe.

Read Food Labels

Knowing how to read a food label will help you avoid problems caused by cow’s milk in foods.

Terms that mean the product does contain cow's milk protein:

Terms that may mean the product contains cow's milk protein:

high protein flour caramel flavori ngnatural flavoring

Soy Allergy Diet

Avoid All Sources of Soybean Protein

Avoiding products made with soybeans is difficult. Soybeans have become a major part of processed food products in our country. Soybeans and soybean products are found in baked goods, canned tuna, cereals, crackers, infant formulas, sauces, and soups.

Soybean oil is considered to be safe. In the processing of most soybean oils, the protein portion is removed. A child with an allergy to soybeans can still have soybean oil and soy lecithin.

Read Food Labels

Knowing how to read a food label will help you avoid problems caused by soybean protein in foods.

Terms that mean the product does contain soybean protein:

Terms that may mean the product contains soybean protein:

vegetable broth vegetable gum vegetable starch

Provide Missing Nutrients

Soybeans alone are not a major food in the diet, but because they are in so many products, eliminating all those foods can result in a vitamin deficiency. As a precaution, give your child a daily vitamin pill.

Use Soy Formula and Soy Milk

If your baby is allergic to cows milk, your doctor may recommend that you give a soy-based or casein-hydrolysate formula that will provide the nutrients usually found in milk and milk products. Some soy-based formulas are Isomil, and Prosobee,. Casein-hydrolysate formulas contain milk protein that has been extensively broken down so it isn't as likely to cause an allergic reaction as regular milk. Some casein-hydrolysate formulas are Alimentum, Nutramigen, and Pregestimil.

In most cases, don't use Good Start; it is a partial whey hydrolysate, which means it contains some whole milk protein.

Soy-based infant formulas are fortified with nutrients. If your child is currently on a milk-free infant formula, continue to use it as long as your child willingly drinks it. There is no need to stop using soy milk as your child gets older.

Provide Missing Nutrients

Milk is normally the main source of calcium and vitamin D in a child's diet. These nutrients are needed to build strong bones. If your child is on a diet without milk and is not drinking a formula, ask your doctor about calcium and vitamin D supplements. Calcium supplements include Biocal, Caltrate, Neocalglucon, Oscal, Rolaids, Titralac, Tums, and Viativ. You can also use a calcium-fortified orange juice, which has approximately the same calcium content as milk.

Wheat Allergy Diet

Avoid All Sources of Wheat

In this country, wheat is a common food. This makes a diet containing no wheat one of the most difficult to plan.

If your child has a wheat allergy, he must avoid all sources of wheat protein. The list of foods that must be avoided is long, including breads, buns, muffins, cakes, candy, cereals, cookies, crackers, lunch meats, pastas, pizza, pancakes, sauces, and snack foods.

You must read labels carefully, because many processed foods, such as ice cream, catsup, and even instant coffee contain hidden wheat flour.

Read Food Labels

Knowing how to read a food label will help you avoid problems caused by wheat in foods.

Terms that mean the product does contain wheat protein:

Terms that may mean the product contains wheat protein:

gelatinized starch

modified food starch

vegetable gum

modified starchstarch

vegetable starch

Use Wheat Substitutes

You can substitute products made from oats, rice, rye, barley, or corn. These substitutes may be available in your grocery or health-food store. You may also buy flours made from these grains to use in your recipes.

Other good sources of safe foods are specialty foods for people who must also avoid gluten-containing grains (wheat, oats, barley, and rye). These foods may be found in health-food shops or ordered from mail-order companies.

Copyright 1999 The Food Allergy Network