In response to postings about soy allergy and delayed allergic reactions
in general--

Delayed reactions make it much more difficult to diagnose food
allergies. My daughter's allergies to milk and soy both produce
primarily delayed reactions. The soy allergy was identified only after
all milk items were removed from her diet. Looking back on her health
history (she is now 10) we realize now that many of her problems early
in life were probably being caused by food allergies that went
undiagnosed. As an infant, she reacted violently to milk formula and was
put on soy. She tolerated it, but in our ignorance we did not know that
her body eventually began to react to the soy formula--just not as
obviously as her reaction to milk formula. Once off formula, Jamie did
drink milk, but was not fond of it. She did experience problems which we
now feel were caused by the milk allergy. The reaction was just not
severe as that to the formula. Not until last September did she develop
severe GI problems which were finally diagnosed as food allergies. Her
IgE RAST test for milk was negative, which only delayed the diagnosis.
Finally after finding a pediatric GI with a lot of experience in dealing
with food allergies and the GI tract, did we get some help for our
daughter. We have been told that delayed response food allergies usually
are found in people with multiple allergies and that the IgE RAST
usually comes back negative for delayed response allergies. Our doctor
told us that milk, soy, and egg are the prime allergens to cause Jamie's
specific problem. Fortunately, she does not have any problem with eggs.
As I mentioned in an earlier posting, we just discovered that citrus is
giving her a problem also so I don't think our quest is yet completed.

I also read somewhere in a web site that it is common for milk allergic
folks to develop a soy allergy. I don't really know the legitimacy of
this claim. Could it be that soy is the main substitute for milk
products and the amount of soy ingested causes that allergy?

One final questions--Our daughter is adopted from Korea. I have found
research that indicates that a high percentage of Asians are lactose
intolerant, but I have not read anything concerning milk allergies. Does
anyone know if there is a high incidence of Koreans that develop food
allergies, especially to milk?

Thanks--
Joanne