Camel Milk cannot prevent the Development of Cow's Milk Allergy – A Study in Brown Norway Rats

Scope
Currently there are no specific recommendations for the use of any particular infant formula in the prevention of cow's milk allergy (CMA). Recently, there has been an increasing interest in alternative infant formulas based on milk proteins from other sources than the cow, including milk from other mammalians such as goat, sheep, donkey, horse and camel. Whereas these have been studied for their usability in CMA management, there are no studies of their CMA preventive capacity. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate whether camel milk could prevent CMA and vice versa.

Methods & results
The capacity of camel milk in preventing CMA and vice versa were evaluated in a well-established prophylactic Brown Norway rat model. IgG1, IgE and IgA responses, allergy elicitation, intestinal and mLN gene expression and protein uptake were analysed. The study demonstrated that camel and cow's milk in general had an insignificant cross-preventive capacity. Yet, whereas cow's milk was shown to have a low transient capacity to prevent sensitisation and clinically active camel milk allergy, camel milk did not show this effect for CMA.

Conclusions
This study suggested that due to lack of cross-tolerance camel milk cannot be used for CMA prevention.