Tony Lycholat, FitPro Magazine (the official publication of Fitness Professionals www.fitpro.com), August/September 2003

In the early 1990s, a number of high profile athletes began taking a new supplement: creatine. And, unlike so many supplements, there appeared to be real benefits. Writing in Coaching Focus, (the journal of the National Coaching Foundation) in 1992, Professor Ron Maughan stated, 'the question remains, does it work in practice? The answer seems to be that unlike other so-called ergogenic aids, this one really does work'. Similarly in the following year and also in Coaching Focus, Dr Paul Greenhaff, who performed much of the early research work on creatine had the following to say: 'Creatine ingestion is clearly a mechanism for providing immediate significant improvements to athletes involved in explosive sports. In the long run, creatine may also allow athletes to benefit from being able to train without fatigue at an intensity higher than that to which they are accustomed. For these reasons alone, creatine supplementation should be viewed as possibly one of the most significant developments in sports-related nutrition since the discovery of carbohydrate loading in the 1960's. Since then, the numerous research studies performed tend to support the initial observations that creatine is a true (and currently legal) ergogenic aid.

Ten years later, if some athletes and cyclists are to be believed, the 'new' creatine is dairy colostrum. Yet is there any published evidence to support this viewpoint?

what is colostrum?
Firstly, what is colostrum? Basically, it is the milk produced by the mammary glands of all mammals, including humans, during the first 72 hours after birth. It is produced to feed their newborn and provide essential nutrients and bioactive components such as growth factors, immunoglobulins, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Currently, suppliers of dairy colostrum (such as Neovite in the UK) usually source their product in the first 48 hours after calving, then de-fat, pasteurise and spray dry the milk to reduce it to a powder that is taken blended with milk, yoghurt, water or juice. It is usually taken on a daily basis.

effects on physical work capacity
One recent study that has perhaps triggered the interest in this supplement amongst the cycling fraternity looked at the effects of oral dairy colostrum on physical work capacity in cyclists. Here, the authors explain that they decided to follow up a study that had reported that 60g/day of dairy colostrum for eight weeks improved the ability to perform a second bout of maximal exercise (by an average of 5.2%) following a short recovery period from a previous bout of maximal exercise. In what was, in effect, the cycling version of Buckleys study, 28 competitive cyclists were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a placebo control group supplemented with 60g/day of oral whey protein; a high dose colostrum group supplemented with 60g/day oral colostrum; and a low dose colostrum group supplemented with 20g/day oral bovine colostrum and 40g/day whey powder protein.
Each subject completed two performance tests before and after an eight-week supplementation period. The first of these tests consisted of two identical protocol VO2max tests separated by 20 min recovery. The second test, carried out two days after the first, consisted of a two-hour performance ride on a cycle ergometer at 65% maximal heart rate (determined during the previous test). At the end of this performance test, all subjects had to complete a workload-based time trial that served as the second performance measure. All subjects were required to keep daily training and diet diaries. Blood analyses were performed and the usual body composition and anthropometric data measured and recorded.

results
The authors found no significant differences in body mass, body composition, aerobic capacity or plasma IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) between the three groups pre and post-supplementation. There were also no significant differences between the groups or within the groups for any of the absolute values for work completed during each ride or the average of both rides. However, in the second performance measure (the time trial), the performance improvements of the 20g and 60g colostrum groups were both significantly greater than that of the control group.

discussion: what is the likely mechanism?
The authors consider several likely mechanisms for the small but significant improvement observed. Since they report circulating plasma IGF-1 had not changed (in contrast to the findings of other studies) their preferred hypothesis is that colostrum supplementation enhances nutrient absorption from the small intestine and improves small intestine function and nutrient absorption leading to enhanced nutrient availability to the recovering muscle cells. In turn, they argue that this may promote recovery after training by accelerating the repair of injured muscles, leading to a greater overall adaptation to training.

other sports: hockey and rowing
In other sports, the published research on colostrum supplementation also seems to support positive significant benefit. For example, in a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled study of colostrum supplementation in elite hockey players over eight weeks, significant improvements in sprint performance and vertical jump were observed. However, a study involving elite female rowers showed that whilst buffering capacity was improved in the colostrum supplementation group, there was no improvement in performance.

conclusion
The published research on colostrum supplementation and its effect on athletic performance and recovery from training is still in its infancy, dating only from 1997. A brief review of these studies by one of the main Researchers in this field, Dr Jonathan Buckley, has been published in Nutrition. In this review, Buckley states that, 'given that there are now a number of independent laboratories that have reported positive effects of colostrum supplementation on exercise performance, recovery and/or body composition, it is likely that colostrum use by athletes will increase'. He also acknowledges that colostrum contains components that are on the IOC doping list (such as IGF-1 and growth hormone) yet reports that colostrum supplementation has not been shown to produce a positive finding in the studies that have investigated this. Buckley concludes that 'the limited evidence that is currently available suggests that colostrum supplementation can increase lean body mass and improve exercise performance and recovery for a number of athletic activities, but an understanding of the mechanism by which this supplement exerts these effects remains elusive. Additional research is required to better characterise the effects of colostrum on athletic performance'. Watch this space.