My son - and possibly my youngest daughter - is allergic to whey. Whey is a milk protein and is found in many, MANY grocery products. It is considered a dairy allergy, but it is not a common dairy allergy. The common run-of-the-mill dairy allergy that most people are familiar with is an allergy to casein, which is also a milk protein. An allergy to casein is often outgrown by age 3, while an allergy to whey is seldom outgrown. ( I do realize I am leaving out links that support these 'facts'; I'll get around to it..:o)..) Also, many people confuse dairy allergy with lactose intolerance. They are NOT the same.
Whey can easily be observed by opening a carton of sour cream or cottage cheese - it is the runny, watery stuff in the carton. Whey can also be dried, and is often used in it's dry form in processed foods.
To identify whey on a food label look for these ingredients: whey, whey powder, dry milk, milk powder, cheese powder, processed cheese (I'll add more as I think of them.)
A whey allergy can be very tricky. For instance, whey can become somewhat 'deactivated' in a sense by cooking. So, for my son, if he were to eat a cookie made with butter in the dough, then he would be okay...but if he were to eat several of the cookies we'd have a problem. I'll get more into this later because it gets complicated real fast.
I will be posting more information on whey allergy, including my son's symptoms and how I figured out his allergy. I will also be sharing recipes that I have altered and/or developed to compensate for his allergy.
Until next time...