The Athlete's Gut by Patrick Wilson PhD RD

Author:Patrick Wilson, PhD, RD
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948006217
Publisher: VeloPress
Published: 2020-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

BOVINE COLOSTRUM

Most people probably don’t remember their first days on this planet, but like other newborn mammals, they likely received colostrum from their mother. Colostrum contains relatively low amounts of natural milk sugar (lactose), but within the first few days after delivery, lactose concentrations in human breast milk increase substantially, and after several weeks, a full transition to what’s considered mature milk occurs.35 While it’s occasionally just thought of as a precursor to mature breast milk, colostrum is rich in immune components (e.g., antibodies and white blood cells) and growth factors that are critical to an infant’s ability to fight infections and develop optimally.35 These immune and growth components are also what drive interest in colostrum as a supplement, not only for infants and children, but also for fully grown adults.

As with humans, our pasture-loving bovine friends also produce colostrum, and this version is the most popular supplemental form of colostrum sold in most countries. The thought of ingesting another human’s colostrum as an adult is a turnoff for most consumers, so even beyond the regulatory issues of capturing and selling human colostrum, it shouldn’t be surprising that supplement makers usually choose the bovine version for production purposes.

Similar to probiotic use, one of the reasons people supplement with bovine colostrum is that they believe it will boost immunity. Indeed, a handful of small trials conducted in athletes seem to confirm the anecdotal accounts of bovine colostrum’s cold-fighting powers; specifically, a 2016 analysis of five placebo-controlled trials reported that the number of days with upper respiratory symptoms was reduced by 44 percent with bovine colostrum supplementation.36 Because athletes are more susceptible to acquiring URTIs during heavy training periods as well as after multihour competitions, supplementing with bovine colostrum represents a relatively low-risk strategy (assuming the supplement is third-party tested for quality) to boost respiratory immune defenses and lower the chances of acquiring a training-killing infection.

Another common reason athletes take bovine colostrum is for its purported ability to improve performance, speed recovery, and enhance body composition. According to a scientific review written by Mathias Rathe, a researcher at Odense University Hospital in Denmark, slightly more than a dozen trials (as of 2013) had put the performance-enhancing claims behind bovine colostrum to the test, and just under half of these trials displayed some sort of the benefit.37 While more than half a decade has passed since Rathe’s review was published, the weight of evidence supporting bovine colostrum hasn’t changed all that much. It is worth considering that most of these studies used small numbers of volunteers, and consequently, a clear endorsement of bovine colostrum for performance enhancement probably isn’t warranted at this time.

A final alleged benefit of bovine colostrum—and the one most relevant to the focus of this book—is its ability to prevent the leaky gut phenomenon (for a review, see Chapter 4). Bovine colostrum contains several growth factors that may help repair damaged gastrointestinal tissue after an injurious event such as grueling exercise in the heat. When eaten alone, these growth factors

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