Colostrum for Leaky Gut: How Effective Is It?

To your knowledge, more than 62 million Americans are suffering from some form of digestive disorder. And leaky gut syndrome is one of the major concerns for most of them.

A leaky gut is when stomach acid escapes the intestine and reaches the esophagus. It causes discomforting symptoms such as heartburn, diarrhea, and much more. So, how do we treat it?

There are various proven ways to heal and neutralize leaky gut syndrome. But the most miraculous solution among all is the consumption of colostrum. Colostrum for leaky gut is one of the major ingredients that doctors recommend for patients to consume in their diet plan.

If you’re distressed about your leaky gut syndrome and the symptoms that follow the condition, then let us explain to you how colostrum can help you overcome it. Read along till the end to get in-depth knowledge on it.

Colostrum: What Is It?

The first milk that mammals produce right before giving birth to their young ones is called colostrum. In comparison to the milk that mammals produce after giving birth, colostrum has more amount of proteins, antibodies, and growth factors.

Colostrum is dense with nutrients and has the potential to build a strong immunity system for the baby. Colostrum takes two to four days to convert into traditional milk after a baby is born. You’ll find the texture a bit thicker than that of the usual breast milk.

This is the first edible substance that a baby must consume when breastfeeding. It’s low in fat and sugar quantities and consists of a high amount of white blood cells that bind together to form the white blood cells.

The purpose of these white blood cells is to enhance the functionality of a baby’s immune system. When newborn babies get their minimal dosage of colostrum through breastfeeding, they start to develop gastrointestinal lining in their bodies. Hence, healthy microorganisms start to grow in the gut.

Hence, a baby will have passive immunity to all forms of digestive diseases and other infections.

What is Bovine Colostrum?

The ability of colostrum to heal leaky gut is a proven remedy. But apart from babies, colostrum can also be used for healing the condition in patients of all ages. Surprisingly, bovine colostrum or colostrum from cows is biologically identical to that of humans’ colostrum.

Bovine colostrum is preferred for treating leaky gut syndrome and other chronic conditions in patients of all ages without restricting it just to babies. 

How Does Colostrum Help With Gut Health?

Before we explain to you the effect of colostrum on the leaky gut, it’s important for you to understand the physiological changes that take place in your body when you’re diagnosed with a leaky gut.

Firstly, when you experience leaky gut syndrome, the intestines will be permeable to allow substances that usually don’t circulate through it. It’s mostly because the intestinal tract and mucosal lining experience inflammation and damage.

Secondly, an imbalance is triggered among the pathogenic yeast and bacteria that boosts damage. And, thirdly the immune system compromises to produce unwanted chemical messengers, which cause autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammation symptoms.

Colostrum has properties to help your body recover from all of these three physiological changes due to leaky gut syndrome. It can restore the leaky gut lining or intestinal permeability to normal levels. The movement of toxins and gut microbes reduces in the bloodstream.

But is colostrum good for leaky gut in adults? Of course, it is!

Bovine colostrum stimulates the strength of the gut wall, and growth of intestinal walls and prevents leaky gut. It consists of a lot of proteins and peptides that consist of anti-microbial and endotoxin-neutralizing effects. As a result, gut inflammation is reduced, tissues are repaired, and mucosal integrity is restored.

You can also take aloe vera juice for gut health.

Benefits of Colostrum Beyond Gut Health

It’s true that people mostly know about how beneficial is colostrum for gut health. But it’s much more than just that! Colostrum is a miraculous substance that infuses healthy attributes in humans. Let’s see a few of the benefits of colostrum beyond gut health:

Enhanced Immunity

The most important benefit of all is high immunity in your body. Colostrum works towards repairing the immune barrier that experiences adversities due to environmental pollutants every day. A strong immune barrier is important for our body to protect us from headaches, allergies, digestive issues, and other health conditions.

Lowers Inflammation

Inflammation is the root cause of several health disorders in humans. Whether you’re experiencing sleep disorders, bloating, brain fog, digestive disorders, or any of such conditions, then inflammation might be the root of it.

So if you ask, does colostrum help with inflammation? Then yes! Colostrum, when consumed in the right amounts and prescribed dosage, can help reduce the adverse effects of inflammation.

Improves Skin Health

There are research and pieces of evidence that state the efficacy of milk proteins in improving skin health. Colostrum shares such milk properties that improve your overall skin health.

It can reduce inflammation, and even skin tone, and help with several other skin conditions. Medical experts have claimed that you can use colostrum even on your visible rashes, eczema, and breakouts.

Recovers Muscles

Athletes have been known for using bovine colostrum for the past few years to increase stamina and improve overall athletic performance.

In addition to that, the proteins in it are helpful for building lean muscle mass. Faster muscle recovery is important after a workout to grow lean muscle tissues and improve strength. And colostrum can speed up muscle recovery for you.

Side Effects of Bovine Colostrum

Bovine colostrum is considered safe for patients of all ages to consume orally. Most people don’t experience any form of side effects, but in rare cases, there have been reports of some health adversities that have worsened due to colostrum.

HIV-positive patients have reported side effects such as vomiting, abnormal liver function, reduction of RBCs, and nausea upon consuming colostrum. It’s a rare case scenario that doesn’t reflect on healthy patients.

Bovine colostrum collected from cows that are suffering from ‘mad cow disease’ can infect humans with the same disease. So, it’s better to avoid consuming colostrum that’s collected from the region where cows are suffering from this disease.

Studies About Colostrum for Leaky Gut

Here are a few of the practical studies that prove colostrum for leaky gut is an ideal remedy. These studies have only proven the factual result of its consumption:

Study 1: Bovine Colostrum is a Natural Approach for Increased Gut Permeability Due to SIBO

Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is a condition that increases the chances of leaky gut syndrome or intestinal permeability.

A study has proven that bovine colostrum, when consumed with or without a blend of eggs, can include bacterial-induced intestinal damage that shares a resemblance to SIBO, leaky gut, and infectious diarrhea.

Study 2: Bovine Colostrum is a Source of Bioactive Compounds to Prevent and Treat Gastrointestinal Disorders

A study was conducted to experiment with the effects of bovine colostrum against various gastrointestinal disorders. In this study, the isolated components of this colostrum were used to treat conditions such as infectious diarrhea, gut-barrier malfunctions, Inflammatory Bowel disease, leaky gut, and others.

The results were positive, and verdicts were passed to ensure that bovine colostrum is safe and healthy to consume for people with gastrointestinal troubles.

Study 3: Bovine Colostrum is Studied to Prove that it Deteriorates Gut Permeability in Athletes

A study by Mucosal Biology states that heavy exercise or workout by athletes makes them prone to leaky gut syndrome. This study is observed on practical tests on bovine colostrum acting as a moderator of its symptoms in athletes.

How Should Colostrum Be Taken?

There’s a strict dosage routine specified by medical experts for treating all forms of diseases or infections in your body. Here’s a brief understanding of how you should consume colostrum:

For Adults:

• If you’re experiencing airway infections due to some form of exercise, then 10 to 20 grams of bovine colostrum is recommended daily for the next eight to 12 weeks.

• If you’re experiencing diarrhea and are suffering from HIV/AIDS, then 10 to 30 grams of bovine colostrum powder is recommended one to four times daily for the next 10 to 21 days.

• For influenza or flu, you should consume 400mg of freeze-dried bovine colostrum every day for the next eight weeks.

• For intestinal health, you should consume 20 to 60 grams of bovine colostrum powder every day. The period of consumption will be specified by the doctors after assessing your overall condition.

• For skin infections and vaginal rashes, use a cream solution of bovine colostrum over the affected area.

For Children:

Children must consume bovine colostrum orally. For diarrhea, children must be given only 7 grams of bovine colostrum three times a day and for 14 days. Children between one to two years must consume 3 grams of bovine colostrum once daily, and twice for children between the age of two to six years old.

How Frequent Should Colostrum Be Taken?

A newborn baby needs only around an ounce of colostrum every day through breastfeeding. It’s equivalent to a teaspoon of colostrum. You can feed your newborn with colostrum milk eight to 10 times daily for the first few days.

The frequency of colostrum consumption for adults might vary depending on their health condition. People with intestinal disorders, flu, diarrhea, and airway infections, must follow different consumption routines to see positive results in their bodies.

But, as per medical experts, on average, adults must consume colostrum only twice a day. The first dosage should be 30 minutes before breakfast, whereas the second should be after the last meal of the day.

Will You Still Require Additional Supplements?

Colostrum shares the same and even more advanced healing properties than that probiotics. So, it’s practical to say that colostrum replaces probiotics as it replenishes the microbiomes of the whole body, including mouth, skin, sinuses, lungs, urinary tract, and intestines.

You can still take supplements to escalate the positive effects of colostrum in healing your health adversities. Suppose you’re experiencing a gut disorder and are on colostrum dosage to cure it. It’s better to have an additional supplement to help increase the healing effects within your body.

Taking quality and medically tested supplements, along with colostrum, will cause no harm to your existing health condition. Apart from that, it won’t even interrupt the health effects of colostrum in your body.

But if you’re willing to take supplements that serve a different purpose of healing your body than what colostrum has to offer, then you must consult your doctor for a green signal.

Colostrum – The Ultimate Remedy to Leaky Gut: FAQs

How Long Does It Take for Colostrum To Heal a Leaky Gut?

Depending on your health condition, doctors will prescribe you the right dosage for consuming colostrum. On average, colostrum will restore gut health within three weeks of time.

For adverse conditions, it’s important you consult your doctors to learn about how long does it take to heal your gut with such worsened symptoms.

Is Colostrum Anti-Inflammatory?

Yes, colostrum is anti-inflammatory. Bovine colostrum demonstrates anti-inflammatory activity to heal the inflammation symptoms in humans and animals. Its components have the properties to reduce or prevent chemically induced colitis.

Can Someone With a Lactose Intolerance Take Colostrum?

Yes, people with lactose intolerance can also consume colostrum. Colostrum isn’t the usual milk and doesn’t contain lactose. Therefore, it’s safe for you to consume, even if you’re lactose intolerant.

Can You Take Colostrum and Probiotics Together?

Yes, colostrum and probiotics can be taken together! Colostrum is a good combination to use with probiotics. It will help promote the colonization and growth of microbial strains. Leaky gut and probiotics have positive results with outstanding healing effects.  

Conclusion

Colostrum has proven itself to be a wonderful substance that heals core digestive disorders. As babies can get their initial immunity builder colostrum from their mothers, the adults can get the same nutrients from the bovine colostrum or colostrum from cows.

A leaky gut can cause extreme discomfort, and without treatment, it might just worsen over time. Colostrum has the potential to neutralize leaky gut syndrome and cure damage caused to the intestinal barrier. It can do much more to help you manage your overall health.

To escalate the effects of colostrum, it’s safer to pair it with a proactive supplement. Optima Healthy Gut Solution is an effective supplement that offers aid to digestive health, reduces inflammation, improves nutrient absorption, and treats leaky gut as well.