Cow's milk allergy : BBC in the gutter

Poisoning children

Dr Crippen still has this atavistic feeling that the BBC can be trusted, and so he is depressed to find them indulging in dishonest, misleading, hysterical gutter journalism.

Cow's milk allergy in babies is being missed by doctors

Nearly 80% of 500 doctors polled by the medical taskforce Act Against Allergy thought their colleagues confused milk allergy symptoms with other conditions. Experts say the problem lies in the symptoms being both vague and common - including skin rashes and diarrhoea. The poll also found many of the doctors did not know the best treatment. Without treatment food allergies can be distressing and even deadly. Experts recommend babies who are allergic to cow's milk be given special low-allergy or hypoallergenic milk, such as an amino-acid based formula. (BBC)

The Act Against Allergy Board continues:

Frequency of Cow Milk Allergy in Childhood

The prevalence of food allergies is greatest in the first year of life, affecting 6% to 8% of infants. Allergic reactions are also reported frequently for egg, fish, cereals, nuts and soybean. Even exclusively breast fed infants may react against food proteins transferred from the mother’s diet into her breast milk: the incidence of confirmed cases is almost 0,5%. Cow's milk protein accounts for the majority of food allergy in this age group: the incidence of cow's milk protein allergy in infancy has been estimated to be 2-3%. Cow milk allergy (CMA) is the most common cause of food allergy/intollerance in infants and children: has been reported to occur in 2-3% of children in developed countries and in as many as 33-54% of children with atopic dermatitis.

In their report, the BBC make clear how dangerous this condition may be.

Left untreated, infants with food allergies can fail to thrive and grow, have developmental problems and can develop severe shock and even die. (BBC)

So must we all thank God for Act against Allergy (AAA) and their battle to educate the medical profession about this common and potentially lethal condition?

Dr Crippen is cynical.

He wonders how AAA arrived at its conclusions. For you see, since he qualified, Dr Crippen has only seen a handful of babies with genuine milk allergy and he has never seen a baby die of it. He currently has one baby with the condition. That baby is doing well, but is being constantly monitored by experienced paediatric dieticians.

Like all family doctors, Dr Crippen also has a collection of fussy middle class parents who have, usually with the help of expensive quacks and expensive and utterly bogus tests, decided their child is milk allergic. And they are using soya milk, goat’s milk and God knows what else. Then there is the other group of parents who tell Dr Crippen that "little Johnny is allergic to milk", but loves his yoghurt, cake and biscuits.

AAA advises that it is not a good idea to use soya milk or goats milk. Dr Crippen agrees with that. So what do we do instead?

Fortunately, AAA are able to recommend Neocate.

Neocate Infant Formula: a nutritionally complete, powdered amino acid-based exempt infant formula.

Neocate is a special formula designed for babies and young children with severe cow milk allergy and multiple food protein intolerance (a reaction to many different foods). The doctor or dietitian has recommended Neocate because your child has difficulty in tolerating or digesting some foods and other formula.

Is it effective? It seems so.

Let us look at a real life case

Patient History: A month after Christina and Tim brought their daughter Eva home from the hospital they noticed she had developed a horrible diaper rash. She showed continuous colic like symptoms such as uncontrollable crying and spitting up. Eva cried frantically and was miserable, she was spitting up and in pain that caused her to arch her back.

"We couldn't do anything and felt very helpless," says Christina.

Nutritional Management and Outcome: Eva’s family made countless visits to their paediatrician who misdiagnosed Eva several times. First the doctor instructed Christina and Tim to switch to a soy protein formula which was not successful. Eva still showed signs of an allergy with a persistent rash and uncontrollable crying. After the soy formula they switched to a hydrosolate formula but Eva still suffered from horrible stomach pains.

Eva's symptoms continued and she was prescribed medication to treat her reflux along with the hydrosolate formula. When Eva still wasn’t getting any better the paediatrician referred her to a paediatric gastroenterologist who finally recommended Neocate Infant, a nutritionally complete formula for infants with milk protein allergies.

"Neocate helped Eva's symptoms and within a week relieved her stomach discomfort," says Christina

Summary: It took five months for Eva to receive a correct diagnosis. Neocate relieves her constant pain and helps her thrive and grow without the use of prescription medications. (full story here)

What does Dr Crippen think of Neocate? It may be effective in stopping mothers dressing baby in silly clothes. And maybe it helps protect against allergy. Who knows?

Dr Crippen is suspicious.

He thinks this is yet another powder invented by Big Pharma for us to insert into our children whilst they are too young to take Ritalin, Strattera and Prozac and all those other chemicals that Big Pharma has in store for them as they get older.

How can he be so cynicical?

Have a look at the small print – the very small print – at the bottom of the Act against Allergy site here. It says:

Act Against Allergy web-site is property of SHS International Ltd.

Who, then, are SHS International? They are the company who make Neocate.

The house of cards collapses.

And so, let us finish where we started. With the BBC. This is not science. This is not news. The BBC has allowed Big Pharma (SHS International) a product placement advert masquerading under the guise of science and news.

At the top of the article, the BBC reports that "80% of the medical profession are failing to diagnose cow’s milk allergy" and thus, presumably, failing to prescribe Neocate. This figure is kindly provided by, and I quote the BBC, “the medical taskforce Act Against Allergy”. (sic)

Medical task force?

It gets worse. By juxtaposition and repeated use of the unattributable passive tense, the BBC has given the impression that the British Dieteitic Association is supporting AAA and the use of Neocate.

It is not.

The British Dietetic Association is a professional body of the utmost integrity and a source of excellent, rational advice on all matters pertaining to sensible eating and, in particular, the relationship between serious illness in childhood and diet.

Read their excellent advice on diet and autism

Read their excellent advice on Food allergies : fact or fiction

Read about their concern about quacks, allergy and autism in :

Dietitians Raise Alarm on Alternative Food Allergy Tests and Dietary Autism Treatments

Finally, a brief summary of their approach to food intolerance.

DIETARY APPROACH TO FOOD ALLERGY AND INTOLERANCE
The British Dietetic Association is concerned that ongoing public and media interest in food allergy and intolerance is causing much confusion. In some instances, unnecessary and potentially dangerous dietary restrictions are being followed, not only on a 'do-it-yourself' basis, but also by 'practitioners' acting without the specialised medical and dietetic knowledge needed to make accurate diagnosis and to ensure safe treatment. Food intolerance can be allergic or non-allergic. Non-allergic food intolerance is far more common than food allergy. Such reactions may be due to a number of mechanisms such as the lack of a particular enzyme needed to digest a certain food e.g. lactase deficiency means that milk and milk products cannot be well tolerated. The term food allergy should be reserved for reactions that involve an abnormal response of the body's immune system. In such circumstances, a food protein (allergen) which is generally considered harmless for the majority of people acts as an 'antigen' and provokes a reaction whenever the food is eaten.

Although 2 in 10 of the population believes they are 'allergic' to certain foods, in reality reproducible intolerance can be demonstrated in less than 10% of these (i.e.1-2% of the population), and only a minority of these are true allergic reactions.
Currently there is no totally accurate and reliable diagnostic test for food allergy. Even medically recognised tests for food intolerance such as RAST and skin prick tests can give false negative and positive results, but they may be useful as an aid to diagnosis. There are an increasing number of food allergy tests advertised in the media and health food shops that have no scientific validation.

So let Dr Crippen summarise what Big Pharma is up to with our children. They encourage mothers not to breast feed but use formula instead. Once children are weaned, they persuade gullible parents that not only is milk “bad” for children, but it may in fact be dangerous.

Have a tin of chemicals instead.

Genuine cow’s milk allergy exists. It is very rare. It needs careful diagnosis and careful long term management. If you think your child has such an allergy then, whatever else you do, stay away from the quacks. Make sure you see your doctor and, if there is a problem, a properly qualified dietician.

In the meantime the British Dietetic Association is fighting a rearguard action to persuade parents to give MORE milk to their children.

Research indicates that many children do not consume enough calcium rich foods such as milk and yoghurt, or enough fruit and vegetables. Local Dietitian, Lucy Rochford has managed to address both these problems in Parkside School in Borehamwood by getting the pupils to concoct delicious ‘fruit smoothies’ for the children to drink. (BDA - full story)