Sunday 7 August 2011

What is Colostrum?

Colostrum is a pre-milk liquid produced by mammals 48 - 72 hours after the delivery of their young. It offers life assisting immune and growth factors which help to ensure the health and vitality of the newborn. Colostrum can be often called foremilk, first milk, immune milk, or beestings

Colostrum looks much like the milk which will follow its production, but is a lot thicker and contains a yellow tinge to it. Colostrum is full of concentrated nutrients, protein, minerals and antibodies which are all required for the initial few hours of life to promote the essential processes within the body, such as development of the immune system and the development of crucial body structure. Bovine colostrum has got the same types of constituents as human colostrum and because of this is commercially produced for human consumption.

Colostrum has been used for centuries by many cultures for its healing and overall health properties. As a result of the mix of immune and growth factors (including immunoglobulins, lactoferrin and insulin-like growth factor) colostrum has numerous beneficial properties; antibacterial, antifungal and improving the body's defence mechanism. More recently colostrum is now well know in the athletic community as a dietary supplement which accelerates the healing process and helps in the rise in lean muscle mass.

Some of the advantages of colostrum supplements:
• Attributes to and helps maintain overall good health and well-being.
• Supports a strong immune system.
• Better resistance to colds and ‘flu and various prevalent ailments.
• Antibacterial activity in opposition to a few common bacteria eg. E.coli.
• Antiviral activity.
• Antifungal activity.
• Sustains better wound, cell and tissue recovery with reduced scaring.
• Boosts gut wellbeing, helping to restore and heal a number of gastric ailments.



When seeking to buy colostrum powder as a dietary supplement you need to be sure that the raw material isn't combined with various other ingredients to help ‘fill’ out the product. In addition the most effective source of colostrum is produced by healthy field fed animals that are hormone, pesticide and antibiotic free. The more an animal is subjected to the natural environment and the less ‘additives’ it receives, the more it is reliant on their own immune system and this strength is passed on into its colostrum. Another critical factor is the processing from the raw product as excessive treatment can rob the colostrum of many of the benefits.