adverse reaction to almarai "fresh" milk....any experiences? | ExpatWoman.com
 

adverse reaction to almarai "fresh" milk....any experiences?

230
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 05:15

my son, who turned 1 while we were in the U.S. over the summer, started drinking fresh cow's milk there (Vitamin D/Whole) with no problems whatsoever. we got back here last week, and i gave him the almarai full cream milk and he started vomitting from it each time he had it. i assumed it was too heavy for him and gave him the almarai low fat, and he had an upset stomach after having it each time...for 4 days. after understandably getting tired of changing soiled clothes and blankets 3 times a day, i bought rachel's milk, and he's had no reaction to that at all! first full night's sleep in a week!

i'm assuming there's something with the pasteurization process that is either not killing some enzyme or bacteria that he can't handle or it's not strong enough. the fresh milk here is so fresh it lasts 4 days, but back home, it's a couple of weeks because of the high pasteurization. and it doesn't say anything on the bottle, the rachel's says pasteurized and homogenized.

he can drink about a liter a day so the 22 aed a liter would add up real fast. will his body get used it to eventually if i keep giving the almarai? should i try boiling the almarai milk and seeing what happens as well?

anyone have any ideas or experiences?

4000
Posts
EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2012 - 06:01
Sorry, meant up to a half liter. :/ not a liter lol. Also I'm not so convinced about the UHT, long life milks, It's so highly pasteurized that it kills all the good bacteria and enzymes. A cows natural diet is just good, clean grass...how can that be possible in the desert? So the most natural animal's milk for this environment would seem to be camel's milk which also has a lot of benefits. I haven't tried it though, has anyone else? Yes I use camel milk every day, its particularly good for children who have any kind of difficulty with cow's milk as it lacks beta casein and other common allergens found in cow milk. It is also an immune system booster and is easily digested by lactose-intolerant . And has a host of other health benefits too.
230
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 September 2012 - 04:28
Sorry, meant up to a half liter. :/ not a liter lol. Also I'm not so convinced about the UHT, long life milks, It's so highly pasteurized that it kills all the good bacteria and enzymes. A cows natural diet is just good, clean grass...how can that be possible in the desert? So the most natural animal's milk for this environment would seem to be camel's milk which also has a lot of benefits. I haven't tried it though, has anyone else?
293
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 September 2012 - 00:37
I'm adding my voice to those who have no bad reaction to al-Marai, al-Ain or al-Rawabi. All very delicious, imo, and my toddler and son drink the long-life al-Marai milk, too.
927
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EW GURU
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 23:23
A litre a day for a child is an awful lot! The recommendation is 3 average classes or cups and that's for adults! Plus whole milk is loaded with saturated fat, so be wary of all those calories. I don't know many people that could tolerate drinking that much, there is a limit to how much the body can tolerate. Try semi or skimmed instead. Milk can be an important part of a babies diet. The OP said her child was just 1. Whole milk is recommended up to 2 years. Agreed. It is recommended by the American peadiatric assocaiation, it's British and European equivalents, that children under 2 need whole fat milk as the fats are an essential part of ongoing brain development. After 2 years they can have semi skimmed and after 5 years skimmed milk.
426
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 23:18
A litre a day for a child is an awful lot! The recommendation is 3 average classes or cups and that's for adults! Plus whole milk is loaded with saturated fat, so be wary of all those calories. I don't know many people that could tolerate drinking that much, there is a limit to how much the body can tolerate. Try semi or skimmed instead. Milk can be an important part of a babies diet. The OP said her child was just 1. Whole milk is recommended up to 2 years.
927
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EW GURU
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 23:16
It's interesting that you mentioned this, as my son has an allergy to penicillan (sp?) and has a reaction to Al Marai's mozarella. He can eat other brands of mozarella, but Al Marai's makes him swell up and flush like penicillian. Interesting. Could be because of the mass medication with antibiotics commonly used in dairy herds to both prevent and treat mastitis (amongst other things) - one of the reasons I no longer drink milk. In the USA ( for example) milk is tested for 6 different antibiotics, although in reality over 20 different ones can be used so they are not testing for them all. Any milk which contains traces of those 6 antibiotics is indentified as "hot milk" and discarded. I am not sure that standards in this region are as *stringent* ( loosely used as the testing in the west is far from stringent). I did read that Marman products are the only ones produced in the region that meet international standards. <em>edited by Genie on 14/09/2012</em>
711
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EW GURU
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 22:08
It's interesting that you mentioned this, as my son has an allergy to penicillan (sp?) and has a reaction to Al Marai's mozarella. He can eat other brands of mozarella, but Al Marai's makes him swell up and flush like penicillian. Interesting.
1336
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 17:13
Someone mentioned here before that the laws here about use-by/expiry dates are different. E.g. the milk may last for 2 weeks, like home, but they are only allowed to put a date of 4 or 5 days on it. I haven't really noticed much difference between any of the brans here, to be honest. I prefer milk from back home but I think that is because the cows are getting better food (i.e. grass etc)
414
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 16:13
but on the other hand, why continue giving milk of any kind, if there have been adverse effects after consuming milk, without consulting with the professional?
391
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 16:00
1litre of milk a day is a lot of milk for a toddler. Recommendations are 3 serves of dairy or dairy substitutes a day. which includes a glass of milk, a piece of cheese, a tub of yoghurt, serve of ice-cream/custard etc. i would try limiting the amount to the recommendations. 1 litre of milk will be replacing other calories in their diet with other nutritional requirements. Alternatively, try long life or imported milks if you think the problem is the particular brand you are using.
Anonymous (not verified)
0
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 15:08
No, don't have any adverse affects from drinking milk here in UAE nor anyone in the family(had one of the kids born here), in fact never heard anyone ever complain about having problems with milk here..not saying there are not any. As it's dairy, mb it wouldn't be bad idea to take him to the doctors, to see is there something more to this. It's not unheard of of ppl living for years having dairy intolerance, only to find it out later in life. btw. Almarai is a Saudi company, and probably have best practises and technology, on par with best EU or north American companies, in the Middle East. wouldn't know much about other brands, but I'm partial to Al Ain dairy products, and Nada sour cream... edited to add: camel milk could be cheaper solution and it has it's own benefits. edited by Goose on 14/09/2012 I usually buy Al Ain dairy products, also without any problems.
Anonymous (not verified)
0
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 15:05
my son, who turned 1 while we were in the U.S. over the summer, started drinking fresh cow's milk there (Vitamin D/Whole) with no problems whatsoever. we got back here last week, and i gave him the almarai full cream milk and he started vomitting from it each time he had it. i assumed it was too heavy for him and gave him the almarai low fat, and he had an upset stomach after having it each time...for 4 days. after understandably getting tired of changing soiled clothes and blankets 3 times a day, i bought rachel's milk, and he's had no reaction to that at all! first full night's sleep in a week! i'm assuming there's something with the pasteurization process that is either not killing some enzyme or bacteria that he can't handle or it's not strong enough. the fresh milk here is so fresh it lasts 4 days, but back home, it's a couple of weeks because of the high pasteurization. and it doesn't say anything on the bottle, the rachel's says pasteurized and homogenized. he can drink about a liter a day so the 22 aed a liter would add up real fast. will his body get used it to eventually if i keep giving the almarai? should i try boiling the almarai milk and seeing what happens as well? anyone have any ideas or experiences? I never had problems, however, there is also Almarai long life milk, the one that's not stored in the fridge in the supermarkets. Have you tried that? I have used both without problems.
414
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 14:22
No, don't have any adverse affects from drinking milk here in UAE nor anyone in the family(had one of the kids born here), in fact never heard anyone ever complain about having problems with milk here..not saying there are not any. As it's dairy, mb it wouldn't be bad idea to take him to the doctors, to see is there something more to this. It's not unheard of of ppl living for years having dairy intolerance, only to find it out later in life. btw. Almarai is a Saudi company, and probably have best practises and technology, on par with best EU or north American companies, in the Middle East. wouldn't know much about other brands, but I'm partial to Al Ain dairy products, and Nada sour cream... edited to add: camel milk could be cheaper solution and it has it's own benefits. <em>edited by Goose on 14/09/2012</em>
230
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 14:20
i'm planning on it! thanks! =)
488
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 14:13
Pretty sure tomorrow is 20% off day at the Organic store if u want to stock up on organic milk...fresh or UHT....get there early though!
230
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 13:51
Thanks for all your input, ladies. It makes me feel better that this isn't just him. As luck would have it, our Spinney's ran out of the Rachel's, so now we're trying the Elle & Vire UHT one....fingers crossed. Even though, I don't like the idea of UHT either. Grr...why does it have to be so complicated?? <em>edited by na115 on 14/09/2012</em>
94
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 12:55
My daughter cannot not have the local milk here either, actually makes her asthma really bad, however in the USA or anywhere else in Europe etc, she can have the milk with no problems, however here as soon as she drinks it, she gets the asthma cough, so I now buy the French organic milk and she has no problem what so ever, quite scary the amount of people here that have told me similiar stories about the milk and chicken. No idea what they add or do, but I wont be ever buying local products again, concerned that the regulations here are not adhered to or as strict and wonder what the long term effects will be?
3804
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 12:40
A litre a day for a child is an awful lot! The recommendation is 3 average classes or cups and that's for adults! Plus whole milk is loaded with saturated fat, so be wary of all those calories. I don't know many people that could tolerate drinking that much, there is a limit to how much the body can tolerate. Try semi or skimmed instead.
80
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 12:34
I once visited one of the dairy farms here and when you smell the feed and see the conditions it puts you off the milk produced here. Dairy farming everywhere is quite harsh but here I am sure they may use lots of hormones etc to make the cows produce calves. Having said all that someone told me they had researched the dairies and Al Ain milk has the least nasty stuff in! Having suffered terrible sinusitis I went dairy free and haven't had any health problems since. There are now options as the organic imported ones mentioned and also soy or nut milks. Also, Geant has a french elle and vire long life organic milk which is ok too.
357
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 12:08
The organic shop in Dubai Mall has organic milk from Austria and Germany, the fresh milk is v expensive (as is the Rachel's fresh milk in other shops) but the UHT versions are very reasonable priced, one brand is under 10 AED per litre (less than the French UHT organic milk at Spinneys) and the boxes stack well for storage. The taste goes over well in our family, it isn't reconstituted so deosn't have that funny taste some UHT brands have.
4000
Posts
EW MASTER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 09:54
I just don't like Marai milk or their yogurt, it tastes so artificial, like its reconsttituted powder, esp the yogurt. It maybe but my taste buds find it hard to believe its actually fresh milk.
654
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EW GURU
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 09:49
Think you've answered your own question to an extent OP. organic milk is free of chemicals and other unspeakables so maybe your little one is just telling you to use the purest milk available.
1097
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 09:10
We don't particularly like the milk here, but it has not made any of us that ill. Was it the same container of milk which made him ill for the 4 days or did you try a different container ? It could also be a case him not liking the taste of it rather than there being something in it which affects him. If it were me, I would err on the side of caution, and not even consider continuing to give the same brand of milk again. There are other local brands of milk you could try before deciding you need to buy the one he does not react to.
230
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 06:35
my husband and I drink al marai as well, wondering why it's having such an ill effect on the little one then? <em>edited by na115 on 14/09/2012</em>
3220
Posts
EW MASTER
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 06:35
I get stomach cramps from the fresh milk here but home in SA I have no such problem. Although the long life milk here doesnt give me any reactions.
1618
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 14 September 2012 - 06:31
We only use AlMarai as my neighbor works for them he says the pasteurization process is the same as in NZ. Our milk easily last 10 days in the fridge.
 
 

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