Cow Milk And Soy

[breadless in wonderland]

I am celiac and saw a local celiac specialist, Dr. Harry Delcher in Atlanta...he told me cow's milk and any form of soy is off limits.

This was news to me, and sounds extreme. Has anyone heard this before and what is the reasoning behind it?

Thanks

[melmak5]

I am new, but to my knowledge if you have intestinal damage you can have "temporary lactose intolerance" and it is best to avoid all dairy till you have healed.

Soy is really hard to digest, and you want to give your body a break and give it things that it doesn't have to work so hard to process. Also, not all soy milk is gluten free.

I have found that almond milk works for me. It is thinner than boy soy or cow's milk, but I like the vanilla in coffee or gluten-free cereal.

[happygirl]

In terms of being gluten free, soy (itself) and milk are both gluten free.

Some people *may* have problems digesting certain foods until they have healed from the Celiac damage. However, that is a different issue than determining if something is gluten-free.

I would say it depends per person, how you can tolerate certain foods.

[melmak5]

I should have prefaced that I am really biased. I have been soy-free for two months and last week I ate a handful of chocolate covered soy nuts and it was like a grenade went off in my gut. I was in pain, burping and regurgitating and horrible D.

I love tofu, it just doesn't love me.

Good luck figuring out what works for you.

[Darn210]

Melmak5 is right, the intestinal area that is damaged is the same area that processes lactose. Since lactose intolerance can have similar symptoms to celiac disease, you might not be able to tell if you are doing a good job of going gluten-free. My daughter was virtually asymptomatic. She had the OK to take a lactaid pill with any dairy for the first two months and then we got to discontinue it. If you have a follow-up appt in a month or two, I would ask him for how long.

[hathor]

Many find that casein affects them every bit as strongly as gluten. Soy too. There are some who feel that these three affect the gut in the same way, as sticky sort of proteins.

BTW casein intolerance is different than lactose intolerance. Casein can be added to lots of things that lack lactose. One is a protein (and hence can create antibodies) and the latter is a sugar that some have problems digesting.

[rsm]

Within a week of going gluten free, almost 5 months ago, I could not tolerate dairy. Even a small amount was very painful. You will learn quickly what you can and cannot tolerate. I have no problem with soy. Each of us is different.

[AndreaB]

Soy and dairy can cause a lot of problems. I would heed your doctors advice for 6 months to give yourself some time to heal. They you can challenge one at a time and see if your body can handle them. Make sure you leave a week in between challenges though, preferably two as another poster took 10 days to notice a reaction. Sometimes the reaction builds and if you have more than one thing you want to challenge you won't know for sure which one it is that is causing problems.