Hi, This is not a very technical answer, but as I understand it, milk allergy is a body-wide response to milk in the system, whereas lactose intolerance affects mainly the digestive system, because it can't handle milk sugar. The allergy can be life-threatening but the intolerance is usually just unpleasant. Also, intolerance often develops slowly during the late teens and the twenties, but allergy is often present at birth or develops rapidly (is that correct about the allergy?) As a lactose-intolerant only I can eat products containing casein with no ill effects, but apparently this is not so with allergics. This isn't reccommended for everyone, but to test what was really going on, years ago, I bought a bottle of lactose powder from a health-food store and ate a considerable quantity. In about two days--sick, sick, sick! I got over it though. :) If any other lactose intolerants want to trade favorite strategies and products they are welcome to write to me privately. --Anne [log in to unmask]