Colostrum Helps Athletes Burn Fat and Build Muscle
Athletes and those who work out and exercise regularly and seriously are always looking for ways to enhance their performance and get better results. According to both clinical research and anecdotal evidence, colostrum may be the most potent natural substance yet discovered that helps athletes get the results they want. In fact, many bodybuilders and exercise experts say that colostrum is the most effective muscle-building agent they have ever used — without resorting to illegal (and dangerous) steroids.
Writing in Iron Man Magazine (a journal for serious bodybuilders), Daniel Shawn states that the IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) found in colostrum “. . . has a strikingly more anabolic effect than any known compound, even steroids.”
IGF-1 is able to “promote muscle growth by itself”, writes Steve Schwade, Associate Editor of Muscle & Fitness, in their May, 1992 issue. “Bovine colostrum has a higher concentration of IGF-1 than human colostrum”, he continues, “and its structure is virtually identical. Human IGF-1 and bovine IGF-1 differ by only three amino acids in the 67-amino-acid chain that makes up the IGF-1 molecule. Because of this similarity, bovine IGF-1 is just as potent as the human form.”
Schwade goes on to quote current research showing that colostrum slows protein breakdown, and “. . . stimulates glucose transport in muscle.” This means that muscles make more efficient use of the fuel available to them.
When it comes to fat metabolism, the growth factors in colostrum “shift fuel utilization from carbohydrate to fat. This doesn’t mean you can eat more fat. But it does mean that your body will burn more fat, including fat made from the carbohydrate and protein you eat, producing fuel more efficiently.”, continued Schwade.
Schwade’s summary: “The bottom line is that the growth factors (in colostrum) speed protein synthesis and slow protein catabolism (protein breakdown), leading to an increase in lean muscle mass without a corresponding rise in adipose tissue.”
Again, Daniel Shawn from Ironman Magazine: “Plain and simple, IGF-1 is the end-all and the be- all of anabolic peptide growth factors. Where can you get it? Colostrum.”
As someone who works out regularly with weights, I have seen definite improvements since I started taking colostrum. I am able to handle more weight in my workouts and I add weight faster as time goes by. I recover more quickly after doing a weightlifting “set” and can go on to the next exercise sooner. I am energized after my workouts, whereas before colostrum, I would be fatigued for an hour or so after working out. And the results are improving — my pants are getting looser and my shirts and jackets tighter! And all this without any major changes to my diet (I’m a pretty healthy eater, anyway).
Recently, more studies have been performed with athletes. Writing in Nutrition Science News in May of 1996, Edmund Burke, Ph.D., reports on research involving the Finnish Olympic Ski Team. “The athletes worked out extremely hard and their blood creatine-kinase levels were monitored over a seven day period. Creatine-kinase is a critically important muscle-cell enzyme that has been shown to be a marker of muscle-cell damage if detected in the blood. Thus, when blood creatine levels rise, it is often a sign of significant muscle damage. Compared to team members who drank placebos, the athletes who consumed a colostrum drink showed roughly one half the blood creatine-kinase levels four days after acute exercise.” They also said, subjectively, that they were less fatigued and that their performance seemed to have improved.
In the same article, Burke goes on to say that colostrum also “improves athletic performance through the gut.” Colostrum enhances assimilation of nutrients through the intestines and thus increases the efficiency of carbohydrate and amino acid uptake. Also, the growth factors in colostrum help “seal” the gut from ulceration which reduces the efficiency of uptake. So what happens when taking colostrum is that more of the nutrients from the food you eat can be utilized as fuel for exercise, whether of the cardiovascular or muscle-building variety.
The benefits of colostrum are great news for those of us who exercise regularly but who haven’t been seeing the results we want. See you in the gym!
