What’s the difference between milk allergy and lactose intolerance?

    Last Updated: October 13, 2024

    Lactose intolerance is sometimes confused with milk allergy, but the two are quite different. Milk allergy is an immune reaction to a protein in milk, usually casein. Lactose intolerance is not an immune condition. People with lactose intolerance don’t have an immune reaction to lactose; they simply have low or no production of the enzyme which breaks it down, and experience digestive symptoms resulting from the fermentation of lactose by their intestinal bacteria.[1]

    References

    1. ^Di Costanzo M, Berni Canani RLactose Intolerance: Common Misunderstandings.Ann Nutr Metab.(2018)