Bovine colostrum

About Bovine colostrum

The milk produced by cows in the first days after calving, dried into a powder. It is rich in immunoglobulin G, lactoferrin, growth factors and oligosaccharides at concentrations far above ordinary milk.

Colostrum is biologically plausible and clinically underpowered. Bovine immunoglobulins survive digestion to a limited degree and can bind pathogens in the gut lumen, which is the basis for the most credible finding: small trials showing colostrum reduces the increase in intestinal permeability caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or by exercise in the heat. Trials on upper respiratory infections in athletes are more numerous, smaller and inconsistent, and most were supported by manufacturers. The immunoglobulin content also varies enormously with the time after calving at which the milk was collected, and labels rarely say.

Sold as

Powder, Capsule, Chewable tablet, Liposomal

Standardised to

Percentage immunoglobulin G, typically 15–40%; frequently unstated — a product without this marker may not resemble what was studied.

Also known as

Colostrum, Bovine colostrum powder, First milk

Regulation: Sold as a dietary supplement with no pre-market efficacy review. WADA does not prohibit colostrum but has advised caution for tested athletes because it contains insulin-like growth factor 1 and other growth factors, and the agency cannot assure that use will not produce an adverse finding.

What the research used

The amounts, forms and durations published trials of Bovine colostrum actually administered.

When it was taken

Each window says whether a trial compared it against an alternative, or whether it is convention and pharmacology. Most timing advice is the second kind.