CALCIUM INTAKES IN INDIVIDUALS ON DIETS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF COWS MILK ALLERGY - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Three hundred and twenty-three individuals with self-reported food all ergy were recruited by media advertisements. Questionnaire information was collected on all respondents. Chocolate (57%), milk (47%), wheat (36%) and food additives (35%) were the most frequently implicated foo ds. The most frequently reported symptoms were itching (43%), skin ras h (43%) and tiredness (43%). Food avoidance was the most common form o f food allergy diagnosis (33%) with only 8% of respondents reporting f ood challenge in food allergy diagnosis. Self-diagnosis was reported b y 34% of respondents with 29% and 24% reporting diagnosis by a general practitioner or a homeopath, respectively. Twenty-four per cent of re spondents 'always' avoided and a further 57% 'nearly always' avoided t he implicated food(s). A group of 38 adults with self-reported 'milk a llergy' was selected for further study. Dietary assessments, using the dietary history method, were carried out on this subgroup and on age- , sex- and occupation-matched controls. The results of the dietary ass essments revealed that the 'milk allergy' group had significantly high er intakes of fibre, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron and fol ic acid (P < 0.05) and significantly lower intakes of calcium (P < 0.0 02) in comparison to controls. Eighteen per cent of the group used mil k alternatives. Thirty-four per cent of the 'milk allergy' group took calcium-containing supplements. Even after calcium supplementation, th e mean calcium intake of those who completely avoided milk was unaccep tably low (441 mg/d).