Is CF and DF the same?

[Koalamom]

Just wondering if casin free and dairy free are the same?

[deditus]

You would think so, but no they are not. Something could be casein free and not dairy free because it could contain another fraction of milk, say lactose for a common example.

[kjbrown92]

there's also whey, another part of milk.

[DevaMajka]

I asked the same question not long ago

From what I gather, ghee can be considered casein free, but not dairy free.
I would guess that if something is dairy free, it would be casein free, but I suppose that depends on your definition of "dairy". I think things other than cow's milk (other animal milks) could have casein. But now that I think of it, that must not be true...

I *think* that if you are vegan you'd be both df and cf.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by DevaMajka

I asked the same question not long ago

From what I gather, ghee can be considered casein free, but not dairy free.
I would guess that if something is dairy free, it would be casein free, but I suppose that depends on your definition of "dairy". I think things other than cow's milk (other animal milks) could have casein. But now that I think of it, that must not be true...

I *think* that if you are vegan you'd be both df and cf.

Casein protein is found in the milk of all mammals.
Here's a good link about it, imo.

[DevaMajka]

Originally Posted by DevaMajka

From what I gather, ghee can be considered casein free, but not dairy free.
I would guess that if something is dairy free, it would be casein free, but I suppose that depends on your definition of "dairy". I think things other than cow's milk (other animal milks) could have casein. But now that I think of it, that must not be true...

Just wanted to clarify- When I said "that must not be true" I was referring to "I would guess that if something is dairy free, it would be casein free."
I wasn't very clear about what I meant!

Good to know that I was right about other milk having casein

[kjbrown92]

Does human milk have casein? There are different types of casein, I'm sure. And even if there's casein in sheep's milk, goat's milk, and cow's milk, they're probably related, but diffrent enough that you can be allergic to one but not all. There are things like rice cheese that have cow's milk casein in them, but they are lactose free, so they're not dairy free or casein free.

[lil_miss_understood]

It's impossible for something to be truly dairy free without being casein free. "Non-dairy" is a completely different term which does not mean "dairy free" and confuses the issue for those of us dealing with milk allergies.

According to that link I posted, there are 4 different types of casein. From discussions here and elsewhere, apparently cows are either A1 or A2 and goats are usually A2 from what I understand. Yes, it is possible to be allergic to one form of casein but not others. From what I understand, it is exceptionally rare for human babies to be allergic to human casein, whatever the designation for it is

ETA: After a quick little further research, the protein in cow milk is a-casein whereas the protein in breastmilk is b-casein.

[Alyantavid]

No. My ds is casein free, but can tolerate whey just fine. But I do typically tell people that he's allergic to dairy unless I want to go into the whole casein vs whey thing.