If you’re a mom, you’ve heard of it. If not, and your mom breast-fed you, you got the benefits of it from birth and probably never knew it. Colostrum. It’s the initial type of breast milk mothers produce for several days after giving birth. Colostrum has high levels of protein, fat-soluble vitamins, minerals and antibodies called immunoglobulins.
Within a week or so of childbirth, a mother’s supply of colostrum is replaced with her own rich breast milk, but health practitioners urge mothers to never discount the importance of offering their newborns the richness of and benefits of colostrum as they wait for this to happen, which is why hospital delivery nurses place newborns at their mothers’ breast as soon as possible.
The molecular structure of colostrum from cows is identical to human colostrum but it’s not until fairly recently that the health and wellness industry began discovering the beauty of colostrum supplementation for adults.
Colostrum supplements can be used to treat diarrhea, reduce the levels of C-reactive protein in your blood after undergoing surgery, prevent damage to the gastrointestinal tract caused by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and can be used to treat distal colitis as well as to enhance bone growth and development. In addition, these supplements can reduce the colonization of candida in people undergoing bone marrow transplant. Best of all, the use of colostrum supplements can significantly (if not entirely) reduce your body’s inflammatory responses — something that is the key to fending off illness and/or helping your body rebound from it.
Bovine colostrum supplements also offer increased energy while reducing the risk of upper respiratory infection. But wait — there’s more! Colostrum has also been known to help your body burn fat and increase muscle density. Of course, this is done combining its use with regular exercise, promoting muscle growth as well by increasing your healing ability and stamina. In this way, colostrum supplements may also slow the effects of aging. Many of my patients report increased energy (less afternoon fatigue) and in diagnostics, I have found the use of colostrum for my patients has significantly reduced or eliminated inflammation. To a wellness doctor and her patients, that’s one of the best pieces of news ever.
The only side effect that has been found in the use of colostrum supplements is if you are lactose intolerant, but the severity of adverse reactions depends on the degree of your intolerance. Other minor side effects are flatulence or mild nausea. But if you balance the benefits of taking this miracle supplement against all this, colostrum is one of the health and wellness industry’s best kept secrets.
Feel free to discuss all this with me at your next appointment, if you feel so inclined. I include the use of colostrum supplementation in nearly every one of my patients’ regimens, so it’s no secret around here any more…
