COW'S MILK PROTEIN ALLERGY AND ALTERNATIVE MILKS
Authors: Mutlu Buket Akin Prof. Dr. , M. Serdar Akin Prof. Dr. , Seker Feride Dasnik 
Published: June 2024

Allergy is a hypersensitive response of the immune system to substances that enter or come into contact with the body. Recently, food allergies are quite common. Food allergy is defined as abnormal rapid immunological reactions of normally beneficial food components (usually proteins). Milk protein allergies are one of them and can cause diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA) is very common in infants, and this type of allergy is the immune system's response to milk proteins. It has been determined that infants are sensitive to at least twenty or more protein contents in cow's milk. Cow's milk proteins consist of approximately 80% casein and 20% serum proteins composed of α-lactalbumin (α-LA), serum albumin, β-lactoglobulin (β-LG), proteose-peptones and immunoglobulins, and other small protein fractions. Milk protein allergy (MPA) is caused by casein, β-LG, and α-LA fractions. Hypersensitivity to casein fractions has been reported in studies on casein, the main protein of milk. β-LG, which contains a high percentage of essential amino acids, constitutes 50% of the serum proteins in cow's milk. The absence of this protein in breast milk suggests that it may be the cause of allergic reactions. CMPA negatively affects the growth and adequate nutrition of infants. Therefore, CMPA is an important issue that needs to be resolved. Technological processes such as enzymatic hydrolysis, high-pressure applications, and heat-applied filtration can be used to reduce protein allergy. If these applications are used in cow's milk, it is thought that it will be a good alternative to breast milk by eliminating the negative effects of proteins that cause food allergies. Another alternative method is to use milk obtained from other animals. In this context, the first milk that comes to mind is goat milk or camel milk. It is known that the main source of cow's milk allergy is β-LG and αs1-casein proteins. The basic proteins of goat, sheep, camel, and donkey milk are the same as cow's milk. On the other hand, goat milk's digestibility increases as it contains less casein protein and more serum protein than cow's milk. In addition, goat milk is richer in essential amino acids and the amount of αs1-casein in it is very low. Therefore, its allergic feature is different from cow's milk. Camel milk is rich in whey proteins lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, lysozyme, α-LA, and serum albumin and contains less β-LG. This shows that it can be a good alternative to CMPA. Vegetable milks, which have become very popular among consumers, especially vegetarians and vegans in recent years, are also an alternative to cow's milk against CMPA. Because these non-dairy products are natural and healthy, they are considered the best nutritional choice. In addition to being protected from diseases such as CMPA, lactose intolerance, coronary heart diseases and hypercholesterolemia, the fact that they contain more minerals, dietary fibres and the bioavailability of the vitamin has led to an increase in the consumption of these products. The most known and consumed plant-based milks are produced from soy, almond, rice, and coconut.