When I drink soy milk I get a small allergic reaction...?!
Is there anything they add to soy milk that could cause an allergic reaction? It's nothing major, mostly my throat starts to hurt and my lips swell a little. But I'm curious because I plan to go vegan in the long run.
Answers: But when I eat soy beans and tofu I'm fine.
Is there anything they add to soy milk that could cause an allergic reaction? It's nothing major, mostly my throat starts to hurt and my lips swell a little. But I'm curious because I plan to go vegan in the long run.
Have you tried several brands of the product?
Its important to avoid it at all costs if you are allergic. Allergies work in a very specific way. Each time you have an allergic reaction to a product, your body remembers it, and will make the next reaction more severe. Getting stung by a bee once stinks, but if it happens 5 or 6 times over your life, you will have a much stronger reaction on time number 6 than time number one. Also, reactions can become stronger by leaps and bounds from exposure to exposure. If you experience throat swelling it is very important you avoid this product as your throat is IMPORTANT. LOL you cannot breathe without it!
If you do not react to other soy products, then it is almost certainly not the soy. Each brand has different additives, so you should take a look at what goes into the brand you drink. If there is more than one brand that gives you this reaction, look for common additives. You may want to see a doctor about this (bring in the offending soy milk, package and all, and talk to them about it)
Doctors can test for allergic reactions with a scratch test, or he might be able to take a quick look at the product and your history and tell you what your offending allergen is.
It is important to avoid the allergen, so I do recommend that you find out what it is, especially since it is a food allergy. Food allergies generally show strong activity around the mouth and throat, since food passes through there. That area does NOT need to swell or it can prevent you from breathing.
Good luck finding out what it is!
Then don't drink it !
Try rice milk or almond milk
be careful with that it could be dangerous. The reaction could get worse. You are reacting to the protein in the soy milk. I cannot say why soybeans and tofu don't affect you.
PhD Food Chemistry and Nutrition
edit. don't know why someone doesn't like my answer, it the truth. Anyway I got to thinking about your problem some more and it could be that the physical state of the protein is different in tofu and that's why it doesn't manifest the same reaction as soy milk. The same may be true of soybean.
Many brands of Soy "Milk" have Carrageena(red algae extract or Irish moss) as an emulsifier. Some people are sensitive to it & react with tummy distress.
Slainté (to your health)
a LOT of people (&animals) are allergic to soy. ask your doctor.
You might have a soy allergy - for a long time, I got that same reaction from soy milk, but not from tofu, edamame, etcetera - eventually the allergy worsened so that I reacted that way from all soy products.
You might be allergic to the plant they get the omega 3 oils from, too - sunflower seeds cause allergies in some people, and many soy milks contain sunflower oil.
So don't drink it. It's not a requirement to being vegan. Processing foods changes the structure. That's why you can have a reaction to certain forms of food but not others.
I'm the exact same way, I love soy milk but I cannot drink it. I think maybe because of how it is processed, it gets into your bloodstream faster than eating other soy products, or it is just more highly digestable. Just a theory, maybe it absorbs too fast for our bodies to handle well. and soy being a major vegan source of protein, I would make sure you are able to find enough protein in other foods before you go vegan, unless you plan on eating eggs and dairy