Dairy Colostrum Boosts Athletic Performance

LONDONIndividuals who consume bovine colostrum may boost their athletic performance and digestive health, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.

Researchers at The London School of Medicine and Dentistry sought to investigate natural ways to enhance athletic performance. They examined athletes who were asked to run for 20 minutes at 80 percent of their aerobic maximum. At the end of the exercise, they measured changes in the subjects gut permeabilityknown as leaky gut syndromeand core temperature. Under standard conditions, gut leakiness had increased by 250 percent and temperature had risen by 2 degrees. When the athletes drank dairy colostrum for two weeks before the trial, the rise in gut leakiness was reduced by 80 percent, despite the same effort and temperature rise.

The researchers identified changes in gut barrier function in laboratory studies: gut cells were cultured at normal 37 degrees body heat and at 39 degrees to replicate the temperature after exercise. The death rate of gut cells was much increased at the higher temperature yet when colostrum was added to the culture medium the rise in cell death rate was reduced by two thirds.