In the seventh and final edition of his perennial bestseller Baby and Child Care, Benjamin Spock – the Walter Cronkite of baby doctors – wrote: "I no longer recommend dairy products." For Spock, the risks had come to outweigh the benefits.

The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't go that far. But it does recommend against cow's milk for the first year of life, not only because of the allergic and autoimmune threat to immature immune systems, but because cow's milk is a recipe for iron-deficiency anemia, which makes babies weak, sad, listless, and dull.

Conventional medical wisdom has it that babies' milk allergies are soon outgrown. But a recent study from Finland found that, at age 10, two thirds of 56 children diagnosed with cow's milk allergy as infants were still allergic according to skin prick testing, and still highly symptomatic.

Many children may be allergic to milk and not know it. A 1987 study in Annals of Allergy examined 46 boys and girls, 3 months to 10 years old, who suffered from runny noses, wheezing, frequent ear- and other infections, coughing, rash, gastrointestinal upsets, or headaches. Blood tests suggested that 32 were allergic to milk and/or to other foods. When the children avoided the incriminated foods their symptoms improved by 70%. Another study found that 81 out of 104 children with recurring earaches and ear infections had food allergies. Milk was the commonest culprit, affecting 38%. On an allergen-free diet for 16 weeks, 70 of the 81 children were significantly improved, both symptomatically and by examination. Reintroducing the foods led to a relapse in all but four.

VERDICT: Dr. Spock may have had it right: at least for some children, the problems caused by milk clearly outweigh the benefits.

Back to MILK: What is the Deal?

Syd Baumel
website | email