Athletic Performance

Colostrum is well-known in the athletic community as a means to increase lean body mass without the dangerous side effects found in steroids. It also helps keep the athlete healthy by accelerating the healing of athletic injuries and boosting the immune system, which becomes depressed after extreme exercise.

• Colostrum supplementation produces a significant increase in lean body mass compared to whey^114,115
• Colostrum supplementation increases anaerobic power, performance time, and sprint performance when compared to whey^116-118
• Athletes have increased susceptibility to infectious diseases following strenuous exercise, and colostrum boosts immunity, helps heal leaky gut syndrome and decreases recovery time in athletes^119-124
• Marathon runners, who experience a significantly higher incidence or upper respiratory tract infections (URI) in the weeks leading up to and following a marathon, had a much lower rate of URI when receiving colostrum supplementation as compared to placebo¹²⁵
• Colostrum contains numerous growth factors and cytokines which accelerate the healing of athletic injuries, including tendon, ligament and muscle injuries^126-129
• When given colostrum, serum IGF-1 levels increase even though the ingested IGF-1 in colostrum is not absorbed¹³⁰ and supplementation with colostrum does not produce positive results for IGF-1 in drug tests¹³¹
• IGF-1 when taken in its natural form is not banned by the International Olympic Committee, whereas synthetic forms are. Colostrum is a natural source of IGF-1.¹³¹