Is cow’s colostrum a miracle cure?
There is no doubt that the first milk a mother produces gives her baby the best start in life. Studies show this colostrum – a thicker, golden yellow fluid produced in the first few days after birth before the “mature” milk comes in – is rich in nutrients and antibodies that prevent infection, help develop the baby’s immune system and organs, and supports their digestion.
But can a supplement made from bovine colostrum provide similar health benefits?
Former rugby player Phil Greening, 45, is convinced bovine colostrum helped him train harder because it prevented the short-term dips in immunity associated with strenuous exercise.
“The benefits for me have been so long standing, even after my career I still continue to take it,” he says.
A study led by Dr Arwel Jones at the Lincoln University Institute for Health supports this. It found that adults who worked out regularly reported 38 per cent fewer upper respiratory tract infections when they took bovine colostrum. There was also a 44 per cent reduction in the duration of symptoms if they did pick up infections.
While acknowledging there were limitations to the findings, Dr Jones thought further studies were needed to find out if colostrum could help other at-risk groups such as the elderly or people whose immune systems don’t work properly.
There’s certainly evidence it might. Animal studies at the University of California discovered that a sugar found in mother’s milk can repair myelin, the protective sheath that becomes damaged when people develop multiple sclerosis.
Blood tests confirm people with some forms of MS have low levels of this sugar and lead researcher, Professor Michael Dementriou says: “Our findings open new potential avenues to identify patients at risk of disease progression.”
Former teacher Liz Rostand was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis almost 40 years ago, and has no doubt that bovine colostrum is keeping her active and mobile.
Liz, 58, has relapsing remitting
MS, which is characterised by inflammatory flare-ups that damage the myelin sheath protecting nerve fibres. Symptoms vary, depending on where the myelin is degraded, and how much repair takes place.
But common problems include fatigue, numbness, impaired vision and reduced mobility.
For Liz, the first sign of a problem came in 1989, when she suddenly lost the sight in her left eye. A consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London said she had optic neuritis, but warned: “It could be MS.”
While her vision improved with steroids, over the next few years Liz experienced several bouts of debilitating fatigue and was diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS – an unpredictable form of the disease that is often associated with long periods without symptoms, punctuated by sudden exacerbations.
Professor Gavin Giovannoni, professor of neurology at the Queen Mary University of London, and an international expert on MS, says in most cases, these exacerbations lead to a gradual loss of mobility, sometimes over 50 years or more.
But occasionally patients with RRMS go into remission or become symptom-free as a result of lifestyle changes. At the time Liz was diagnosed, there was little doctors could do. There were none of the specialist teams who now provide care and the first effective treatments for MS were not available on the NHS until 2000.
Having also seen her father struggle with MS, she admits she did not have faith in the health system. Liz kept her diagnosis a secret from the outside world, but was forced to stop working and often needed support from her husband, Freddie.
She became increasingly “wobbly” and it became impossible to keep her condition a secret.
A neighbour later said: “We all used to think you were drunk.”
Liz recalls: “It was less than a mile from our house to the centre of town and when I got there I’d collapse into a chair in the cafe. I’d have to sit for three-quarters of an hour to get the strength to walk back.”
Four years ago, she and Freddie moved to Frome, in Somerset, and after a chance meeting with a woman who said her own MS symptoms had improved after taking bovine colostrum, Liz figured she had nothing to lose.
Within days of taking it, she began to feel steadier and stronger and can now enjoy long walks with Freddie and their dog, Maddie.
The couple have now set up their own company, Igbioscience (igbioscience.co.uk) to source and supply colostrum.
“You become quite evangelical about it,” she admits. “It’s quite extraordinary what it does.”
But Professor Giovannoni is more cautious.
“In a lot of diseases, we talk about a virtuous cycle, where people get to a positive frame of mind and start making lifestyle changes, that feeds back and makes them feel better. It’s linked to neurochemistry and brain metabolism – functional MRI scans show the impact of exercise, the impact of mood, the impact of the placebo effect.
“It may have nothing to do with colostrum. It could simply be due to natural fluctuations in the disease and the fact she is more active now, and more proactive about looking after herself.
“We have a history of alternative treatments in MS. Going back over the past two decades we’ve had CCSVI [a blood flow problem which allegedly responded to surgery], we’ve had CBD, bee stings, intestinal worms, goat serum, rejuvenation therapies and many more alternative therapies that have not lived up to their initial promise.
“We have a path littered with these alternative treatments, which, when they are investigated in trials, turn out to have no benefit.” He advises speaking to your MS team before trying non-medical therapy, and stresses they should be complementary and seen as a support to medical care, rather than as an alternative and a replacement.
The benefits for me have been so long-standing even after my career I take it
You become quite evangelical about it, it’s extraordinary what it does