Casein Intolerance

[Joyous]

Does it sometimes go away once you're gluten free?

[psawyer]

Lactose (milk sugar) intolerance is often temporary, as lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose, is produced in the tips of the villi. When the villi are sufficiently healed to produce enough lactose, the problem goes away.

Casein (milk protein) intolerance, on the other hand is almost always permanent.

[CMCM]

I thought my whole life until 2 years ago that I had problems with dairy, not gluten. I thought I was severely lactose intolerant...I didn't really know about casein. When I did my gluten testing, I also got tested for casein and was found to be casein intolerant as well as celiac.

Well....I was gluten and casein free for maybe 5 or 6 months, and then at that point I tested the waters with dairy again....amazingly, it didn't seem to bother me like before (with gluten now gone from my diet). So I do eat dairy now, but I'm careful with it and don't have much of it.

The negative thing, though, is that according to Enterolab's Dr. Fine, being casein sensitive I should eliminate dairy because supposedly it can also cause some sort of similar intestinal damage to that which is caused by gluten, and in any case, a person with this sensitivity just should not eat casein. That's a hard one, and thus far I haven't been willing to totally eliminate it, although like I said, I'm careful to limit it.

Perhaps my previous dairy problems were actually from lactose intolerance (because if the villi are damaged from gluten, then digesting the dairy sugars are a problem). And when I elimianted gluten, the villi healed and the lactose was no longer a problem, or at least I didn't get the symptoms. But that didn't mean the casein wasn't still a problem (perhaps not causing any overt symptoms but still doing some sort of damage somewhere...who knows?). I guess casein sensitivity would never go away whereas lactose intolerance could....

Oh well, who can really tell about all this? All I can say is I can have limited dairy without reactions now, and previously I never could.

[Joyous]

I'm okay with giving up gluten, but dairy... And the fact that I can't imagine not eating dairy could suggest that I'm addicted to it because I'm casein intolerant. Or maybe I've just lived in Wisconsin too long.

[Cruiser Bob]

I'm okay with giving up gluten, but dairy... And the fact that I can't imagine not eating dairy could suggest that I'm addicted to it because I'm casein intolerant. Or maybe I've just lived in Wisconsin too long.

What about me & the Tillamook cheese (a business client) and Crater Lake Blue. I miss my diary quite a bit - just teasing, but I do miss my dairy. I've narrowed it to casein with me. I've talked to a bunch of cheese mongers over the years. Goat & Sheep casiens are smaller, thus easier to digest. Just the past 4-6 weeks I have been able to tollerate about 1/4cup of goat yogurt every morning with little reactive issues. That is after about 6 years dairy free. Bob

[Offthegrid]

I thought I'd *never* be able to give up dairy, but it's actually a lot easier than I thought. I use rice milk for baking or on the rare occassion that I have cereal. I also use coconut milk for baking. I personally like rice milk better than soy milk. Almond milk is good, too, but if you are soy intolerant then some brands use soy lechitin in them.

I have discovered I have a host of food intolerances. Dairy gives me symptoms much like gluten, but the others just give me more minor symptoms -- mostly digestive.