The BNF also claim that food intolerances are found in between five and eight per cent of children in the UK and less than two per cent of adults.
An intolerance to cows' milk can be quite common in young children, but tends to disappear as they get older; the BNF says 90 per cent have outgrown the intolerance by the time they go to school.
This is because babies rapidly learn to tolerate a range of foods in the early months of its life. When the child has experienced a full range of foods - usually by the age of three - their body has built up a tolerance threshold, so intolerances are less common.
Scientists are still unsure how or why this happens but the BNF says this is a normal physiological response to experiencing different foods.
Figures for the number of adults with intolerances are less clear. This is because many adults 'self diagnose' their intolerances or visit private health practitioners. These figures are not collected nationally, so the real numbers of intolerances are unknown.
The BNF says 20 per cent of adults believe they have an allergy or intolerance to a particular food.
However, Allergy UK says the true figure is nearer 40 per cent, a claim that now appears to be backed up by recent research.
A recent report by one of the UK's leading allergy specialists Dr Harry Morrow-Brown says the numbers of food intolerances has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. He believes this is because we now consume milk in much greater quantities than our grandparents' generation.
Dr Morrow-Brown claims that our bodies have not learnt to cope with this increase in milk consumption and this is causing the related rise in intolerances.
He believes that if we eliminate milk from our diets, we can solve a range of health including asthma, eczema and even attention deficit disorders.
Do we really need to drink milk then?
If allergy specialists say our bodies cannot cope with drinking milk, do we really need it in our diet?
NO: says a leading allergy expert
Professor Jonathan Brostoff is a leading authority on allergies and food intolerances, from King's College, London. He believes that humans do not need to drink cow's milk once we have left childhood.
He says, 'We are not programmed for cows' milk. We are the only species that continue to drink milk after we have stopped breastfeeding and we are the only species that drinks another species' milk!'
One way that humans can be intolerant to milk is that they do not produce the right enzyme to break down the sugar in milk. Professor Brostoff says that 75 per cent of the world's population - mainly found in India, Africa and China - do not produce this enzyme after the age of 11 or 12, making them milk intolerant.
'Being milk intolerant is normal,' he says. 'It is only in Western Europe that we can tolerate milk as adults due to a genetic mutation.'
If most humans are milk intolerant, Professor Brostoff therefore supports the idea of eliminating it from your diet. 'People may suffer from chronic aching joints or a bloated stomach for years and think that's normal. But when they cut milk out of their diet and feel a million times better, they realise that, that is what is normal.'
Critics say that removing milk from the diet means that we are missing out on vital vitamins and nutrients, but Professor Brostoff says, 'Animals do not drink milk after being weaned and they can manage without it. You can find calcium and the vitamins in milk, in other areas of the diet or by taking a calcium supplement.'
If you are thinking of cutting out - or reducing - milk in your diet, this should be done under the guidance of a trained nutritionist or allergy specialist.
Visit your GP who can refer you to experts in your area to determine whether you do have an allergy or intolerance.
You can also find out how to replace milk in your diet in the section 'What can I have instead of milk?' below.
YES: says a dietician and therapist
Isobel Skypala is head of dietetics at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. She says that we need to drink milk as part of a healthy balanced diet or we can miss out on vital nutrients.
She says: 'There is some confusion over whether milk is bad for you. Some people may decide not to drink it through choice - like being vegetarian - but I would not advise someone to eliminate it from their diet unless there is a valid reason, like a diagnosed allergy.'
Isobel says that eliminating a food group from your diet can actually make you more likely to react to it. 'If you cut it out of your diet, and then you are exposed to it by mistake suddenly, you are more likely to have an allergic reaction to it than if you were exposed to it all the time.'
Isobel is also wayry of milk replacements in the diet. She believes that cutting it out causes a greater reliance on other food sources, such as soya milk. But in her department, she is now seeing a greater incidence of soya allergies, possibly triggered by an increased exposure to this milk alternative.
Isobel says that if you want to be fit and healthy, you should not be eliminating any one food group from your diet. Although calcium can be found in other sources - bread and green vegetables for example - she says milk is still the richest source of this nutrient.
Women need to be particularly careful about eliminating milk due to the risk of osteoporosis in later life. Osteoporosis is now so common in Britain that one in three women and one in six men suffer from the condition.
Milk also contains vitamin B6; essential for forming new blood cells, B2; for energy and zinc for healthy skin, eyes and immune system.
Nutritionists recommend consuming two to three portions of dairy products every day to make sure you are getting the right amount of calcium and other nutrients. A portion is a 200ml glass of milk, a pot of yoghurt or a matchbox-sized piece of cheese.
What is the difference between a milk intolerance and an allergy?
Part of the confusion surrounding milk is the difference between an allergy or an intolerance.
The British Nutrition Foundation says that an intolerance is 'a range of adverse responses to food'. This can include bloating, diarrhoea, itching - both of the eyes and skin, and vomiting.
Intolerances are caused when your digestive system does not produce enough of a certain chemical or enzyme that is needed to help break down that particular food.
An allergy is when your body 'turns' on something that is normally not a problem. This means your immune system is involved. When you drink milk, for example, your body mounts a response to it as though it is being 'attacked' by the milk.
This can cause similar symptoms to an intolerance - itching, diarrhoea, runny eyes and nose - but also affects the airways. This may cause the lips and tongue to swell, wheezing, difficulty breathing and, if not treated in time, can be fatal. This response is called anaphylactic shock.
If you suffer from this type of allergic reaction, doctors recommend you carry an EpiPen. This is an injection containing a form of adrenaline that prevents your symptoms from becoming fatal if you do come into contact with a trigger. But if you do have an attack, it is advised that you got to hospital where specialists can monitor your reaction.
Now click below to find out what to do if you have an allergy or intolerance and the milk replacements you can try in your diet.
Here's what readers have had to say so far.
It is not true that drinking milk helps prevent osteoporosis. In fact animal protein including dairy products leech calcium from the body.
Calcium from vegetables is more easily absorbed.
- Catherine Rendle, Gloucester
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