In spite of a lot of advances in food allergy, the misconceptions amongst parents as well as healthcare professionals continue. One of the biggest area of confusion is that of non-IgE mediated cow’s milk protein allergy, affecting the gastrointestinal tract. As there are no simple tests (and I mean really NO tests, no matter what the internet says) that can confirm this allergy, it remains an allergy that is based on identifying the symptoms followed by a trial elimination diet and then reintroduction to confirm/disprove the allergy.
I have been involved with an international team to publish the new iMAP guidelines, which provides simple guidelines for healthcare professionals (and parents) for this delayed form of cow’s milk allergy. Allergy UK has been supporting the distribution of these guidelines in the UK and has some useful tools (supported by the UK authors), which can be downloaded from their site.
In addition, Dr. Adam Fox, one of the authors also did a very useful BBC radio interview that many parents may find useful. The section on cow’s milk allergy starts about 7 minutes into the link.