Milk from Chicken Meat for KIds with Dairy Allergies

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Food Allergies on August 29, 2007

There used to be a time when the only type of milk I knew and ever considered drinking was from cows. When my son turned out to have cow's milk allergies, we looked for other options such as goat and sheep's milk (to which he was also allergic to) and plant-based milk substitutes such as soy milk and rice milk. Up to now, my son drinks only rice milk, even if he has already outgrown his dairy allergies.

One issue with plant-based dairy substitutes is that unless they are fortified, the calcium and protein content are not up to par with cow's milk. Knowing that, we made it a point to get the fortified versions, and made sure he had enough protein from other sources.

Now, Thai scientists have come up with another protein-rich alternative: milk from chicken meat.

"The milk made from chicken breast strips can provide high energy and nutritional levels similar to milk from cows and soyabeans. It also poses a lower risk of allergies to milk protein from these main sources," the 'Bangkok Post' reported, quoting lead researcher Pipop Jirapinyo as saying.

The results revealed that infants were eight times less likely to be allergic to milk from chicken meat than to soyabean milk. The conclusion came after the team compared the allergic symptoms of 20 babies given milk from chicken meat with the remaining 18 who were given soyabean milk.

Hm, I wonder... If I take half a glass of chicken milk and half a glass of rice milk, could I skip lunch? Kidding!