Colostrum the catalyst for Olympic success?

MONDAY, APRIL 05, 2004

As the Athens Olympics approach, ABC science program Catalyst recently featured a report on colostrum, a supplement popular with athletes for its performance enhancing and immune boosting benefits.

Colostrum is a thin milky substance produced by mammals in the early stages of feeding newborns. The colostrum supplement is derived from cows and dried into a powder. It is rich in growth and immune factors, including IGF-1, a growth hormone.

Reporters from Catalyst interviewed Dr Peter Larkins, sports physician from Melbourne Sports Medicine Centre, and Dr Jon Buckley, senior lecturer in exercise and sport studies at University of South Australia. Both attested to the effects of colostrum but said science was still getting to the bottom of how and why colostrum worked.

Swim coach Ken Wood had 90 percent of his swimmers on colostrum, the report said, including Jessicah Schipper who recently qualified for the Australian squad heading to Athens.

Dr Buckley told the program he put a group of athletes on a colostrum supplement and measured peak power on the bike, comparing the results to a group taking a placebo. The colostrum group improved muscle power 5 to 10 percent after 8 weeks, he said.

"If you take the colostrum you recover more quickly than you would without the colostrum," Dr Buckley said.

"Nowadays most coaches know how to train their athletes but the trick is getting them to recover quicker so you can get more training into them."

While colostrum contains a growth hormone, most scientists believe this is destroyed before reaching the bloodstream. Current research attributes the effects of colostrum to its ability to improve gut lining, and thereby improve overall nutrient absorption.

As science is yet to completely fathom the anabolic effects of colostrum, and no athlete has returned a positive drug test taking it, Dr Larkins said the supplement would continue to be popular with coaches and athletes.

For the full transcript on the colostrum story, visit the Catalyst website.

In response to the story, Aussie Bodies nutritionist Luke Summers said that those keen to use colostrum need to be forewarned about the make and quality.

"Because the physiological activity of colostrum in the body is dependent on the structure of the proteins, ensuring your colostrum is not de-natured is critical," Summers said.

"Check the way the colostrum is manufactured. It needs to be freeze dried, as opposed to spray dried. De-naturing occurs at both the high pressure spray nozzle and with the heat used during the process of spray drying.

"Also ensure the colostrum has been standardised to 30 percent immunoglobulin content which guarantees the product's potency.

"Aussie Bodies Colostroid is one of few colostrum products to be freeze-dried, avoiding the de-naturing of the proteins (retaining 100 percent of its activity). It is also standardised to 30 percent immunoglobulin content."