Colostrum supplements have witnessed heavy growth in demand during the past few years. This surge is due to extensive research, which has brought forward numerous benefits of bovine colostrum supplements. The most noteworthy among these is the significantly higher nutrition that colostrum can provide, and the health benefits that it is associated with.
Let’s explore all of these aspects in a little more in detail.
What exactly is bovine colostrum and what is it composed of?
Colostrum is the first milk given by mammals when they give birth to newborns. Bovine colostrum refers to the excess milk collected from cows when they give birth. The main factor which sets apart colostrum is its nutritional composition.
The concentration of proteins and fats found in regular milk is about 3.62% and 4.69% respectively. Bovine colostrum surpasses this with a whopping 6.7% of fats and 15% proteins on average. Colostrum is also found to be rich in nutrients like lactoferrin, lysosomes, and lactoperoxidase. These nutrients are known for their antibacterial and antifungal properties. In addition, Immunoglobulins, IGF (Growth factors), vitamins, and minerals can be found in bovine colostrum.
Colostrum supplements are popular because they offer a safe, hygienic, and regulated dosage for consumption.
Health benefits of bovine colostrum supplements
Bovine colostrum supplements can provide you with a variety of health benefits. Your daily dosage of colostrum supplements would vary according to the benefits you seek. We would strongly recommend you to consult your physician for the exact dosage.
- Helps to promote muscle growth and build lean muscle mass
Bovine colostrum is the only natural source of IGF-1 (Insulin-like growth factor), which can promote the growth of muscles by itself. Bovine colostrum has almost the same growth factors (IGF-1 and IGF-2) and growth hormones that are found in human colostrum, only in a higher concentration. These growth factors stimulate the energy utilization in your body to shift to fat consumption, instead of carbohydrates.
This means that your body burns more fats to build a lean muscle mass. These factors also promote muscle growth naturally.
- Increase in energy levels and performance
As we just mentioned, bovine colostrum is a potent source of IGF-1. IGF-1 facilitates catabolism (the breaking down of proteins in your body) inside your muscles. It also helps your muscles to absorb more glucose and improves blood flow. Consequently, your body and muscles receive more nutrition, which translates to high energy and good performance throughout the day.
- Healing from injuries
Growth hormones present in bovine colostrum supplements encourage cell regeneration. In addition to these, colostrum contains PDGF ( Platelet-Derived Growth factors), TGF alpha, and TGF beta. These factors help your body in cell migration and proliferation. They encourage muscle healing and tendon repair. Colostrum supplements are thus, very useful for people who have a long history of injuries. It also helps those who are recovering from surgeries or undergoing physical therapy.
- Leaky Gut syndrome and Immunity boost
Colostrum contains immune factors which enhance immunity. Colostrum helps your body to receive passive immunity, meaning that your body becomes immune to a disease it has not yet encountered.
Colostrum supplements also contain PRP (Proline-rich proteins). These proteins help in overcoming the leaky gut syndrome, by reducing swelling, pain, irritation, and infection in the inner lining of your gut. Lactoferrin present in colostrum also stabilizes your gut, and the TGF factors promote tissue repair.
- Cancer prevention
Certain milk fats present in bovine colostrum have anti-carcinogenic properties. In addition, lactoferrin is known to prevent and reduce cancer. Consumption of bovine colostrum supplements may help prevent bladder, colon, tongue, oesophagus, or lung cancer.
Colostrum also promotes general immunity and vitality in your body, thus reducing the chances of diseases including cancer.
- Gastrointestinal disorders
Colostrum regulates the gut and helps to improve digestion. It has several bioactive components that are directly or indirectly absorbed by your body. Your gastrointestinal tract encounters several bacteria and antigens in a day. The immunological factors present in bovine colostrum provide immunity against these foreign bacteria and potentially infectious agents.
Colostrum supplements thus help your gastrointestinal tract from infections. Colostrum also helps to reduce inflammation and soothes the inner lining of your gastrointestinal tract.
- Immunodeficiency related diarrhoea
For people who are immunodeficient, a variety of bacteria and parasites are known to cause chronic diarrhoea. Several clinical trials and reports during the past few years have demonstrated that colostrum helps to cure chronic diarrhoea in these long-suffering patients. This might be due to the presence of lactoferrin, which has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.
New kinds of colostrum supplements, also known as “hyperimmune” colostrum, are under research. If successful, these might help to cure even more potent disorders like rotavirus.
Conclusion
Colostrum supplements are made from bovine colostrum sourced straight from farm cows. These supplements are processed at sub-zero temperatures so that they retain all nutrients of natural colostrum.
Natural colostrum has several factors which cannot be found in ordinary dairy supplements. These factors promote immunity, increase energy, enhance vitality, promote growth, heal injuries, and also help to cure several diseases like diarrhoea and cancer.
