Dr John Buckley, presented a paper at the Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, which was held in Adelaide, on the benefits of bovine colostrum supplementation for sports performance. The abstract below summarises the results of the study.

Effect of an Oral Bovine Colostrum Supplement on Running Performance
by J.D. Buckley, M.J. Abbott, S. Martin, G. D. Brinkworth, P.B.D. Whyte Centre for Research in Education and Sports Science, University of South Australia.

Bovine colostrum is secreted by cows during the first few days after calving and is a rich source of bioactive components, including growth factors. Oral supplementation with a whey fraction of bovine colostrum has been shown to significantly increase serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations with no effect on vertical jump performance (Mero et. al., 1997). The present study employed a double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel, randomised design to determine the effect of supplementation with a low fat, low lactose, concentrated bovine colostrum protein powder (intact(tm), NorthField Laboratories Pty Ltd) on plasma IGF-1 concentrations and endurance running performance.

After an initial familiarisation period in the two weeks prior to commencement, 39 males, aged 18-35 years, completed an 8 week running program (3 x 45 minutes/week at lactate threshold) whilst consuming 60 g/day of intact(tm) bovine colostrum (n=23, peak !Unexpected End of Expression.O2 53.5 ± 1.1 ml·kg-1·min-1) or whey protein (n=16, peak !Unexpected End of Expression.O2 54.2 ± 1.7 ml·kg-1·min-1). All subjects followed dietary guidelines provided by the researchers and kept food diaries throughout the study period for subsequent dietary analysis. Subjects completed 2 incremental treadmill running tests to exhaustion (10 km/hr, incremented 1% grade every 3 min) separated by 20 minutes of recovery at weeks 0, 4 and 8.

There were no differences in plasma IGF-1 concentrations between the groups at week 0 (colostrum 231.1 ± 10.7 ng/ml, placebo 221.0 ± 13.3 ng/ml; P=0.37). Plasma IGF-1 concentrations did not change in either group during the study period (P=0.90). There were no differences in the distance covered (m) or work done (kJ; vertical distance covered x body mass x 9.81 m/s2) during the first (colostrum 4649 ± 238 m, 155.8 ± 15.7 kJ; placebo 4464 ± 320 m, 140.2 ± 19.6 kJ; P>0.46) or the second (colostrum 4044 ± 357 m, 120.6 ± 21.3 kJ; placebo 3942 ± 388 m, 110.7 ± 21.1 kJ; P>0.91) treadmill runs at week 0. Distance covered and work done during the first treadmill run increased in both groups during the study period (P<0.01), but at similar rates (P>0.69). During the second treadmill run both groups exhibited similar increases in the distance covered and work done from weeks 0-4 (P>0.20) but, from weeks 4-8 the intact(tm) colostrum group continued to improve whilst the performance of the placebo group plateaued, such that by week 8 the colostrum group ran further (colostrum 4662 ± 251 m, placebo 4237 ± 323 m; P=0.04) and did more work than the placebo group (colostrum 150.7 ± 17.1 kJ, placebo 124.2 ± 18.9 kJ; P=0.03). The TEM for running time (which equates to distance covered and work done) was 2%. There were no differences in dietary intakes between the two groups. These results indicate that oral supplementation with intact(tm) bovine colostrum improves the ability to perform a second bout of maximal exercise following a relatively short period of recovery from a prior bout of maximal exercise.

Reference:

Mero, A., Miikkulainen, H., Riski, J., Pakkanen, R., Aalto, J., Takala, T. (1997). Effects of bovine colostrum supplementation on serum IGF-1, IgG, hormone and saliva IgA during training. J. Appl. Physiol. 83(4):1144-1151.

Conclusion: It is performance enhancing, which would seem to be the primary motivation for using it rather than any other properties it might have.


taken from : http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/1998/oct98/oct23.shtml