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Bovine colostrum may enhance athletic performance

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http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=13535666&src=rss/healthNews

Bovine colostrum may enhance athletic performance
Tue Sep 19, 2006 02:11 PM ET

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research suggests that hard-training endurance athletes may get a boost from supplements containing bovine colostrum -- the nutrient-rich "pre-milk" cows produce shortly after giving birth.

Mammals, including humans, produce colostrum in the first few days after giving birth. This first milk is dense with protein and other nutrients, as well as antibodies and growth factors important in the development of the newborn immune system and digestive tract.

Bovine colostrum supplements have been found to carry a number of health benefits, including lower risks of upper respiratory illnesses and diarrhea in immune-suppressed children, and a reduced risk of intestinal damage from anti-inflammatory drugs.

The supplements are also marketed as a way to build muscle and enhance athletic performance.

The new study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that bovine colostrum seemed to help male cyclists retain more energy during a bout of intense training.

Normally, when athletes train intensely without adequate rest, their performance level starts to dwindle and they show signs of fatigue such as reduced testosterone levels, changes in nervous system activity and mood disturbances, explained lead study author Cecelia Shing of the University of Queensland in Australia.

The current findings suggest bovine colostrum benefits athletes in these situations, Shing told Reuters Health.

For their study, she and her colleagues followed 29 male distance cyclists. After taking baseline measurements of the men's performance on a 40-kilometer time trial, the researchers randomly assigned them to drink either a supplement containing 10 grams of bovine colostrum protein or a whey protein supplement every day for eight weeks.

During week eight, the men underwent five consecutive days of high-intensity training; their performance was tested before and after the training bout.

Shing's team found that there were no clear differences between the two groups during normal training.

However, volunteers who used bovine colostrum did perform at a higher level, with fewer signs of fatigue, during tests taken after the five-day run of intense training.

It's not clear why bovine colostrum might aid athletes under high physical stress. But Shing said the supplement might somehow regulate the functioning of the immune, hormonal and nervous systems, minimizing the negative effects intense exercise can have.

SOURCE: British Journal of Sports Medicine, September 2006.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
 
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