Equine Milk: New possibilities for industrial applications

Successful therapy in cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA) rests upon completely eliminating cow's milk protein from the child's diet: it is thus necessary to provide a replacement food. Equine milk, which has a gross composition similar to human milk, looks a very promising alternative. This prospectiev study investigated tolerance of ass's milk (AM) in a population of 46 selected children with CMPA, for whom il was not possible to use any CM substitute. Thirty-eight children (82.6%) liked and tolerated AM at the challenge and for the entire duration of follow-up. Catch-up growth was observed in all subjects with growth deficit during CMP hallenge. The degree of cross-reactivity of the IgE vs AM protein was very weak and aspecific. AM was found to be a valid alternative to both IgE-mediated and non IgE-mediated CMPA; including in terms of hypoallergenicity and palatability. These encouraging results should potentiate the production of this type of milk. Its increased avaiability would enable studies to be performed to evaluate the possibility of utilising in the general population of subjects with CMPA