Colostrum Supplement for Leaky Gut

Colostrum is not something widely known but it is very important, especially in the area of autoimmune diseases. Before I get into the various benefits of colostrum, let me explain...

What Is Colostrum?

Colostrum is the first milk (also called pre-milk) produced from the mother's mammary glands. For example some mammary glands are the breasts of a human mother after a newborn baby is delivered or the cow’s or goat’s udder.

Colostrum has many components that are critical for the immune system and general health of the newborn.

Colostrum has been valued as an essential whole-food drink in many traditional societies as they knew the life-supporting components for not only the newborn baby but also for the sick adults who need a superfood that is easy to digest and provides countless nutrients.

It is well known among farmers that if a calf, for whatever reason, misses the opportunity to suckle from the mother’s udder--then the calf will most likely not thrive, or even die due to its weakened immune system and compromised health.

Why is Colostrum a Superfood for the Immune System?

Colostrum is a superfood that contains many essential life-saving and health-optimizing components.  

Colostrum is loaded with growth and immune factors that help the body defend itself from many kinds of diseases. It has an adaptogenic function that makes the body well equipped to endure and handle many types of stress. It is nutritionally dense in:

  • -Vitamins 
  • -Minerals 
  • -Anti-aging and adaptogenic factors (more than 80 growth factors and more than 90 immune factors that have been discovered so far)
  • -Protein with a complete profile of essential amino acids (best for building collagen and muscle tissues)  
  • -Essential fatty acids
  • -Glyconutrients (these are considered super carbohydrates which our body cells thrive on)
  • -Various types of probiotics 
  • -Enzymes

No wonder it is considered nature’s most complete whole food.

Does Colostrum Heal a Leaky Gut?

Here I have listed some of the benefits of colostrum that have been discovered, though I encourage you to further expand your knowledge and check out Google Scholar. On this website, numerous scientific studies are explaining the healing effects of bovine colostrum on many of the diseases from which humans are experiencing.    

1- Colostrum supports the health of the digestive system by optimizing the gut flora environment. To optimize a digestive system, and to decrease the intestinal permeability (aka, leaky gut) (1) is to keep a balance of the good and bad microorganisms. There are thousands of species of bacteria, viruses, fungi , parasites, and worms. One of the compounds colostrum provides are probiotics which boost the microbiome of the digestive system by balancing it with the good flora which leads to a more robust immune function.

2- Growth factors in colostrum are very essential not only to human babies but also to mammals such as a calf. Rarely a calf can survive if it does not get the pre-milk from its mom. In human babies, colostrum helps in building and developing the gut and in children and adults, it helps repair and maintain a healthy, functioning gut (2). Colostrum also promotes microbial balance in the digestive system and builds the epithelial tissue by providing the necessary building blocks. 

3- Colostrum improves the health of the thymus gland which is an important organ for the immune system; therefore, enhancing the immune system’s ability to fight off bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. This is very critical-- so try to minimize or even avoid the routine diseases such as the flu, chest inflammation, runny nose or sore throat, just to name a few.

To answer the question: does colostrum heal a leaky gut? According to many scientific studies, alternative and integrative medicine and empirical data all support the idea that colostrum can be an important part of giving the body the building-blocks of nutrients to heal itself.   

Other Benefits of Colostrum

4- Another benefit of Colostrum is for fitness enthusiasts and athletes who want to prevent or decrease the damage of the immune function due to prolonged and high-intensity training is to include colostrum in their sports drinks. Not only does colostrum help the immune function for athletes, but it also helps to increase performance and muscle tissue after resistance training (3).

5- As another benefit, colostrum can be used topically. You can use colostrum as a facial clay to nourish the skin and make it glow. You can simply mix colostrum and filtered water (preferably non-chlorinated and non-fluoridated water), and leave it on your face for a few hours. Your skin will love the nutrients it will be getting from colostrum.

6-Oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates in bovine colostrum are bioactive substances that protect pathogenic microbes particularly on the intestinal wall (4). This is so critical since 85% of the immune system is located in the gut wall. 

7- Proline-Rich Polypeptide (PRP), and also known as Colostrinin, is a powerful nutrient found in bovine colostrum and has many health promises. Colostrinin is a potential treatment in neurotropic pathogens (5) which means fighting off microbes or toxins that can affect the nervous system and result in diseases such as Alzheimer’s which is an autoimmune disease(6). 

8- Proline-Rich Polypeptide (Colostrinin) also shows health promises against age-related disorders and oxidative stress. PRP is considered to have an immunomodulatory effect where it can modulate the immune system. Meaning, if the immune system is becoming hyperactive--then Colostrinin will suppress it or calm it down--and vice versa. If the immune function is underactive, this will stimulate it just enough to bring the immune system up and put it in balance.

Not All Colostrums Are Created Equal

Many of the colostrum products out in the market are processed less than they should be. Many of the health supplement companies use too much heat during the process which can compromise the integrity of the colostrum components; therefore, you want to stay away from that type of colostrum.

The process of defatted colostrum (removing the fat from colostrum) is awful since it deprives the customers of these essential fatty acids that naturally occur in colostrum. 

What to Look For

Is the colostrum coming from cows who are living unnaturally in crowded confinement farms? Are they eating unnatural food such as corn and soy feed? Are they injected with growth hormones frequently so they can survive the inhuman conditions they are living in? These are all good questions to ask when looking for colostrum.

There are companies, although very few and far between which sell quality real colostrum that you can trust. They provide colostrum with the following qualities that you and I deserve to have as intended by nature--

  • Free from herbicides, antibiotics, and synthetic hormones validated by testing.
  • A low temperature was used to dry out the moisture from the colostrum. 
  • Harvested only after the newborn calves get their share.
  • The fat stays in the colostrum untouched so you never feed yourself or your loved ones “defatted colostrum.”
  • Verified by a third party that it is not a transitional colostrum but a true 6-hour colostrum.

Summary

Throughout human history, colostrum is considered nature’s complete food that contains all the essential fats, amino acids, and glyconutrients. It contains growth factors that help with the gut lining cell regeneration process in many individuals with digestive diseases such as leaky gut syndrome, Crohn's, and irritable bowel syndrome. That is why many choose colostrum supplements for the leaky gut as part of the healing process.  

  

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