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This reply reaffirmed the gluten status of Lactaid's Chewables in addition
to addressing milk/GF question:

--- "Some Lactaid tablets are not GF--as I recall the chewables are not GF.
Check Stokes Pharmacy list and other sources. Sounds like the company is not
too well informed. After my diagnosis with Celiac disease, I stopped using
Lactaid and switched to a brand from my health food store that was labeled
as GF. I think Lactaid was a source of gluten for me.

I don't use any of those products now. Apparently my problem was all gluten
intolerance and not lactose. As I got better on a GF diet, milk products
were tolerated. About the cow's milk. I don't think the gluten should
transfer as the cow's digestive system would "digest" and change the
gluten."

I got some interesting feedback on potential reasons for differences in
response between milk in summer vs. in winter:

--- " this makes a lot of sense to me why milk in the summer doesn't bother
me but it does in the winter  ... most farmers feed corn fodder, and seldom
grain but in cold weather more grains are used as an additive to increase
butterfat. silage fed is ok ..." (sic)

And this:

--- "I go through cyclical lactose intolerance - every spring and it's just
starting now. I find that it is worse if I have very sweet milk (with
chocolate syrup or ice cream) that just drinking plain milk. I also find
that I can tolerate higher fat milk better than low fat at this point. The
results are similar to yours - almost immediate massive stomach cramps, but
I don't generally get diarrhea. I have not found that lactaid works for me,
so I don't worry about it. I can tolerate yogurt, cheese, and cooked milk
when this is happening, so I tend to try and get my dairy that way. Note
that the rest of the year is fine."
These replies kind of implicate feed the dairy cows are being fed during
different seasons of the year. Considering I was drinking "winter" milk when
I got my reaction, this would suggest, maybe, just maybe some gliadin made
it into the milk. But this is still supposition, although it is interesting
to consider.

This reply is the most definitive on the topic. According to him, they know
for sure gluten in cow's milk is a non-issue:

--- "We dealt with this about a 18 months ago, when we first went GF. We had
dairy issues so we thought it was lactose and started using the lactaid
milk. When I called the company on the milk they gave me the same answer as
they gave you, that gluten passes through to the milk product. This made
sense because when a woman breast feeds, that happens. I questioned the
lactaid people further on the issue and they ultimately told me to call the
dairy that makes the milk for them in my area. They do not make the milk
themselves, but contract out to regional dairies. I am in the northeast and
they referred me to Hood, a large dairy distributor. I called them and they
basically said that what the lactaid people were saying was totally not
true. They said that their chemists tested the milk after processing and it
was indeed GF. They said that they tested all their milk on the issue and
all milk was GF. They actually thought the issue was dead between the milk
and the lactaid response. I had a couple of conversations with customer
service reps and managers, who said that they got their information from
their lead chemists at the dairy. I passed the information to our regional
support group director who also jumped on the bandwagon. She called with
more of a formal request by the support group for information. She said that
she got the same exact info, that the lactaid people were covering
themselves because the dairy people said that it was definitely GF.
I'm on the side that the milk is GF. I was more convinced by speaking to the
people at the dairy than I was about the lactaid people. It made more sense
to me because all of the other dairy products that we consume are supposedly
tested and are being certified as GF by other companies, basically assuming
some sort of responsibility in the product that they make."

And on the science and medicine side I got this response:

--- "I think we've gone over this before but all peptides such as gliadin
are broken down into amino acids once they cross the cows intestines. As a
physician and scientist, I can not come up with a plausible explanation how
the gliadin could remain intact when secreted into the milk. On the other
hand there are enriched milk products which have additive which might
contain gluten and I would check with the manufacturer of whatever milk you
are using."

And so, that's it! I have my own opinion now, and I know there are no
absolutes in anything (nothing is 100%). I think it is possible, although
unlikely, gliadin can be passed in cow's milk. The posts about getting
different responses from milk in winter and summer, and the differences in
feed the animals are fed in those respective seasons makes me think twice.
Take a hypothetical:

Dairy farmers feed their cows corn in summer, samples of milk are taken and
analyzed, no gliadin is detected in the milk. Then that's it. They don't
test again till next summer. Meanwhile, winter comes, dairy farmer switches
to grain feed, cows start passing gliadin in their milk. But since no one is
testing, nobody knows for sure the gliadin is being passed in the winter. Is
the milk then GF? Depends on when you test it. But of course, this is all
supposition!

That's the best explanation I can come up with for the "winter milk,
positive reaction/summer milk, no reaction" replies I got. Personally, in my
case, I know I did a triple whammy on myself by accident, with the
antibiotics, the gluten in the Lactaid Chewables, and leaky gut and probably
casein all affecting me. I think it is possible I got some milk that had a
bit of gluten in it, possibly in the form of an additive, but more of my
problems were from large molecules being passed directly into my bloodstream
from gut leakage.

I want to thank you all for your replies. They were mostly enlightening
(there were a few silly ones that I tossed). Again, sorry for the lateness
of this summary.

Jerry

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