For many people consuming dairy can be a very painful experience. For some it can cause an excess of digestive complaints such as diarrhea, nausea and gas, for others it can cause hives, runny nose, stomach cramps, difficulty breathing. Both these groups must avoid dairy but each one must avoid it for a different reason.

Often times lactose intolerance and milk allergy are confused but they are very different reactions to different substances in dairy, and although the end result, that they must avoid dairy is the same, treatment of symptoms for these two conditions is very different. While some of the symptoms can be very similar the mechanics of these two conditions are what make these two conditions very different.

A milk allergy is an immune system response to the proteins in milk. Milk allergies are most common in children and affect somewhere between 1-7% of children in the world. While some of the symptoms of a milk allergy can mimic lactose intolerance such as nausea, diarrhea, and gas, milk allergies can also affect the skin and respiratory system as well.  Symptoms such as hives, eczema, asthma and even anaphylaxis may occur with milk allergies. Milk allergies are treated primarily by avoiding dairy; however for symptoms an antihistamine or inhaler can be used.

Lactose intolerance is not an allergy rather it is the inability to digest the sugar in milk called lactose. Most common in adults, lactose intolerance seems to be predominant in certain ethnic groups such as Africans and Asians. To digest lactose the body secretes an enzyme called lactase, which then breaks the lactose down into two substances that can then be digested. In some people the secretion of this enzyme declines or stops completely, causing these people to unable to digest lactose this results in gastrointestinal symptoms as the undigested lactose moves thru the intestinal tract. Lactose intolerance is also treated by avoidance of the offending foods or there are enzyme tablets that can be used to help digest the lactose, and lessen the impact of the symptoms.