Cow's milk allergy is a common disease of infancy and early childhood. If an allergic baby is not breast-fed, a substitute for cow's milk formula is necessary.

A new report has found that most children with a cow's milk allergy can tolerate mare's milk. To summarize:

• The protein composition is much closer to human milk than is cow's milk

• The high lactose content makes it pleasant to eat and preferable to other substitutes that contain carbohydrates other than lactose

• Subjects were 25 children with severe IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy

• All children showed strong positive skin tests to cow's milk

• Only two of the 25 had positive skin test responses to mare's milk.
  

The author's note that it has been previously shown that children with cow's milk allergy have tolerated ass' milk. They note that Asses and Mares are in the same family (Equidae), whereas cows are in the Bovidae family, which might account for the difference in allergic reactions.

According to the authors "These data strongly suggest that mare's milk, with appropriate modifications, can be regarded as a good substitute of cow's milk in children with severe IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy,"

Journal of Allergy Clinical Immunology 2000;105:1031-1034.