Milk hypersensitivity in young adults

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of milk hypersensitivity in Finnish a dults. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: Two hundred men and 206 women aged 27 y randomly recruited from t he population register in southwestern Finland. Interventions: The subjects were interviewed about their dairy product cons umption, abdominal discomfort after dairy product intake and lactose intole rance. From serum samples, serum reactivity to milk protein and milk-specif ic IgG(1), IgG(2), IgG(3) and IgA were measured. Results: About 20% of the subjects reported abdominal discomfort after dair y product intake, whereas only 6.4% had been diagnosed to have lactose into lerance. The amount of milk consumed correlated well with the serum assay r esults in subjects reporting abdominal discomfort but not in subjects who w ere free from these symptoms. Among subjects with no record of dairy produc t restriction or lactose intolerance, those experiencing abdominal discomfo rt after dairy product intake had significantly higher serum reactivity to milk protein than those without such discomfort. The concentrations of seru m milk-specific antibodies did not differ between these two groups. The pre valence of milk hypersensitivity in this population was estimated to be 3-6 %. Conclusions: Milk hypersensitivity may be as common in adults as in infants . The measurement of serum reactivity to milk protein may prove useful in s creening milk hypersensitivity in subjects who have not restricted their da iry product consumption.