Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Change In Bowel Movements

Question:
I've been very curious about use of bovine colostrum (and studies on human lactoferrin) for crohn's and IBD. Has anyone had any experiences with this? My girlfriend has very active upper bowel crohn's and I'm always searching for better possible ways to deal with it.

Answer:
I read the loctoferrin link with great interest. I would suggest you look it up on pub med. I found an article that spoke of the increased lactoferrin in active Crohn's. On the bovine colostrum, my concern there is if you get a batch from a Johne's infected cow. Johne's disease is a Crohn's like disease in cattle. This is caused by mycobacterium avium ss. paratuberculosis (MAP) [if you look it up you best bet is to look up just paratuberculosis] MAP has been tentively linked as one of the possible pathogens in Crohn's. See www.shafran.net/crohn be sure to check the Trial Results page. See also www.crohns.org & www.johnes.org There are several companies promoting the use of bovine colostrum to boost immunity.  It has been called mother's gold-colostrum, a thick, yellow substance that is produced toward the end of a female's pregnancy and is emitted by her mammary glands during the first 48 hours after giving birth. While humans produce small amounts of colostrum, a cow produces approximately nine gallons during the first thirty-six hours after giving birth. Each drop contains: immunoglobulins, growth factors, antibodies, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, and other special substances designed to prime the body to face a lifetime of invasion by various microorganisms and environmental toxins bent on destruction. It sounds great, but because of the short-term nature of the research, no one knows what long term effects bovine colostrum has. Evidence of its efficacy is very preliminary. There is some research that shows it can have some effectiveness in helping a very select group of individuals with certain diseases.   In addition, these studies used a very controlled and potent pharmaceutical grade bovine colostrum.