Fwd: Re: NCC - Colostrum

[Forbes-Ewan, Chris]

> -----Original Message-----

> From:	Robert Sleigh [SMTP:Robert.Sleigh at foodscience.afisc.CSIRO.AU]

> Sent:	Tuesday, April 11, 2000 8:56 AM

> To:	Public Health Nutrition Discussion and Information Group

> Subject:	Re: Fwd: Re: NCC - Colostrum

> 

> Yes Colostrum is beneficial to humans.

> Various sports people are taking it and claim it was responsible 

> for their good performances.  There is a lot of published info on it.

> Regards,

> Robert Sleigh

> 

> 

The extract below my signature block is from:

http://sportsci.org

Click on 'conference report'

Then click on 'colostrum supplementation'

Chris Forbes-Ewan

Senior Nutritionist
Defence Nutrition Research Centre
76 George St
Scottsdale  Tas  7260
Australia

Phone:	Int + 61 3 6352 6607	(03 6352 6607 within Australia)
Fax: 	Int + 61 3 6352 3044	(03 6352 3044 within Australia)

E-mail:	chris.forbes-ewan at dsto.defence.gov.au

The views expressed in this message are those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the position of the Defence Science and Technology
Organisation or of the Australian Department of Defence.


Colostrum Supplementation

Colostrum is the first milk produced by a lactating mammal. It contains
various
growth factors and antibodies, so it might be good for athletic health and
performance. At an Australian conference last year a group from Adelaide
presented a study of apparently non-athletes comparing performance in a
group
who supplemented for 8 weeks with colostrum powder (60 g per day) with a
group who supplemented with whey powder. The measure of performance was
work done in two incremental runs to maximum effort separated by 20 min of
rest. The colostrum group performed substantially better than the whey group
in
the second of the two tests. (See the abstract.) At the IOC conference they
presented another study with a similar double-blind placebo-controlled
design,
but with elite female rowers as subjects. The supplementation period was 9
weeks. The performance test consisted of three 4-min submaximal stages
followed by a 4-min maximal effort on a rowing ergometer, which was then
repeated 15 min later. Unfortunately the study ended up with only 3 subjects
in
the experimental group and 5 subjects in the control group. In spite of
these
small numbers, there was a statistically significant improvement in
performance in
the colostrum group relative to the whey group in both maximal stages of the
test. But there is a problem. The difference in performance between the two
groups amounted to only 10.5 m, over what must be at least 1000 m in the
last
4-min stage (the authors don't state the distance). That's an improvement of
1.0% or less, which is important enough for a top rower, sure, but our
calculations show that the reliability of the test would have to be
unusually high
for such a difference to be statistically significant with such a small
number of
subjects. [Buckley et al., p.246]