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- Athletes: Have you Heard
About Colostrum?
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| Colostrum may improve athletic
performance by stimulating the production of new protein and increasing the energy that's
released from it as it's broken down. Colostrum may also increase immune factors, enabling
athletes to withstand demanding physical and environmental stressors without getting sick.
Colostrum is made by the mammary glands
following birth and is soon replaced with milk. It contains a high concentration of
substances that help newborns grow and resist disease. Because disease and tissue
development are at the core of many different types of medical research, colostrum is of
interest to various types of medical experts, including oncologists, immunologists, and
sports medicine doctors. |
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Colostrum has been used by people for a long time.
Colostrum taken from cows—bovine colostrum—has been used in India for thousands
of years as physical and spiritual medicine. Before the discovery of penicillin, it was
used in the United States as a type of antibiotic.
If you're an athlete, you've heard about colostrum.
It contains growth factors and immune-enhancing components that reportedly speed recovery
from strenuous exercise and build muscle tissue. In addition, it contains numerous
nutrients and other ingredients that are significant to the health and development of
newborns.
Colostrum is the first kind of fluid that's made in
the breast following birth. Later, after anywhere from 48-72 hours, it is replaced with
full-blown breast milk. The colostrum that we take as a nutritional supplement, however,
comes from cows, not humans.
For thousands of years, Ayurvedic doctors and
spiritual leaders in India have used bovine colostrum in healing. There, it is still
available dried, and is delivered with milk by the milkman. And in some parts of
Scandinavia, when cows are calved, a dessert pudding is made with fresh colostrum and
served with honey. In the United States, colostrum was once used as a type of antibiotic
before the discovery of penicillin.
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- How Does Colostrum Help
Athletes?
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- While more studies need to be
carried out in order to confirm the purported benefits of colostrum supplementation, early
evidence suggests many significant effects. It may help muscle tissue recover more quickly
after intense training. In addition, it may stimulate immune factors, reducing the
likelihood that illness will follow environmental and physical stressors. Colostrum may
also increase lean muscle mass. If future research yields continued positive results,
colostrum may become the next exciting nutritional ergogenic aid for muscle growth and
recovery.
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- How It Works
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- Growth factors and immunological antibodies may improve cell growth and disease resistance. This means that muscle
tissues can recuperate faster, and the immune systems of athletes may be better able to
diffuse substances that challenge them. Also, IGF (insulin-like growth factor), the
primary growth factor found in colostrum, may promote protein synthesis, help with glucose
uptake and stop the breakdown of protein during and after intense training.
Together, these actions may add up to increased lean
muscle mass, a prospect made even more appealing by the fact there is usually no increase
in adipose, or fat tissue at, the same time.
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- Insulin-Like Growth Factor
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- When growth hormone levels rise, IGF
rises as well, so it's ready to mediate the effects growth hormone has on cell function.
The two are somewhat interdependent: growth hormone needs IGF in order to affect cells,
and IGF responds to growth hormone.
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Bovine vs Human Colostrum
Bovine colostrum contains more IGF than human colostrum does. It also contains truncated
IGF—a type of IGF that's 10 times more potent than regular IGF. |
- Ask the Expert about Muscle
Breakdown (click)
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But unlike growth hormone, IGF can stimulate cell
growth by itself. Muscle cells are one type it helps to produce. IGF also helps move amino
acids, the building blocks of protein, into muscle cells, and it stimulates protein
synthesis while it prevents protein from breaking down.
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- Colostrum and Muscle
Recovery
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- Few studies describe the effects of IGF on protein
synthesis and catabolism in athletes. These few yield conflicting
results. According to the results of one recent study, for example, IGF treatment neither
increased muscle protein synthesis nor reduced whole body protein breakdown. If it had,
the study subjects, who were experienced weight lifters, would have seen significant
increases in muscle protein production, but they didn't.
In contrast, according to a placebo-controlled
colostrum study that used members of the Finnish Olympic Ski Team as study subjects,
colostrum (containing significant amounts of IGF), sped muscle recovery after heavy
exercise, indicating that it had positive effects on both protein synthesis and
catabolism.
In the study, athletes took either colostrum or
placebo and then engaged in a demanding training regimen. Those taking colostrum felt
better than the placebo group did after intense exercise, and using blood creatine kinase
levels as a marker, it was determined that the muscle tissues of those in the colostrum
group recovered faster and with less muscular injury following hard work-outs.
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- Colostrum and Endurance
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- Colostrum also increases your
muscles' uptake of blood glucose. A 1990 research study by Lynis Dohm, Ph.D., a researcher
from East Carolina University, found that IGF stimulates glucose transport in human
muscles. This may help to supply muscles with precious fuel during long—term
exercise, and may help rebuild glycogen stores during recovery. Colostrum is also rich in
carnitine. Carnitine is an important molecule for long chain fatty acid metabolism within
the mitochondria. Mitochondria are the fuel factories, the "energy powerhouses"
of cells.
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- Increaded Fat Metabolism
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- IGF and growth hormone also have specific effects on
fat metabolism. In muscle cells, IGF and growth hormone stimulate fat-burning by shifting
fuel metabolism away from carbohydrates. This may allow an
individual to burn more fat during exercise, which has a glycogen-sparing effect.
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- Intestinal Illness
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- In veterinary medicine, colostrum is commonly used as
an antimicrobial treatment of intestinal illness. It reportedly surpasses the temporary
benefits of antibiotic and anti-diarrhea medications, due to a number of proposed factors.
In particular, colostrum's immunoglobulin proteins, immunologically active cytokines, and
antimicrobial proteins bind to and kill many pathogens. And, these proteins and
colostrum's growth factors stimulate, repair, and maintain the intestinal
lining.
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 - Ask the Expert about
- Colon Health (click)
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It is not uncommon for athletes who are training
hard to have irritable bowel syndrome or diarrhea that's been caused by intestinal
infections. When diarrhea strikes, many athletes turn to self-medication with
over-the-counter bismuth compounds. These can cause a build-up of mucus, which stops the
flow of fluids into the intestine. Another popular over-the-counter medication, loperamide
(Imodium-AD), retains water and electrolytes in the intestine. Both of these products
affect nutrient absorption and may even cause more serious side effects with extended use.
Colostrum may be the key to pathogen removal and to
intestinal healing. Athletes who want to enhance immune system and intestinal health
should consider taking colostrum supplements when training hard or to prevent
gastrointestinal infection.
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- References
- Gulve E. & Dice, J. Regulation of protein
synthesis and degradation in L8 myotubes. Effects on serum, insulin and insulin-like
growth factors. Biochem J, 260(2):377-387, 1989.
- Yarasheski, M., Zachweija, J., et. al.
"Short-term growth hormone treatment does not increase muscle protein synthesis in
experienced weight lifters. J Appl Physiol, 74(6): 3073-3076, 1993.
- Anderson, O. "BioenerviTM floods Finland, but
can it really cut recuperation times?" Running Research News, pp. 11,
January-February, 1994.
- Read, W.: Colostrum and insulin-like growth factor.
Great Health, pp. 8-10, July-August, 1992.
- Rubaltelli, F., Orzali, A., et. al.: Carnitine and
the premature. Biol Neonate, 51(S1): 65-77, 1987.
- Acosta-Altamirano, G. "Anti-amoebic properties
of human colostrum. Adv Exp Med Biol, 216B:1346-1352, 1987.
- Spik, G.: "Bacteriostasis of a milk-sensitive
strain of E. coli by immunoglobulins and iron-binding proteins associated with colostrum.
Immunology, 35: 663-670, 1981.
- Francis, G.: "Insulin-like growth factors-1
(IGF-1) and 2 (IGF-2) in bovine colostrum. Biochem J, 251:95-103,1988.
- MacKay, N.: Diarrhea: Causes and natural cure. Let's
Live (in press).
- Bricker, D.: Colostrum: Implications for accelerated
recovery in damaged muscle and cartilage, prevention of some pathological disease. Am
Chiropractor, pp. 3-4, November, 1991.
- Baumrucker, C. & Blum, J. "Effects of
dietary recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 on concentrations of hormones and
growth factors in the blood of newborn calves.
- Di Pasquale, M.: Colostrum. Drugs In Sports, 3(1):
2-3, 1995.
