Why Grown Men Are Consuming Baby Food For Science

All mammals produce colostrum, a nutrient-dense milk, to feed their newborns in the 48 hours after giving birth. It’s meant to help young babies and their fragile immune systems develop antibodies for warding off illness in a world filled with pathogens. 

“Colostrum is specifically designed to seal up our internal barriers from the outside world,” said Dr. Sarah Rahal, an NYC-based pediatric neurologist who launched ARMRA Colostrum in 2020. 

“When babies are born, their bodies are immature. So this food evolved 300 million years ago specifically to be the first thing that goes into your body and seal up all of your barriers like glue.” 

Over the last 30 years, it’s also become a component in the diets of experimental weightlifters, bodybuilders, and professional endurance athletes looking to boost their performance. Grown men are consuming colostrum, primarily from cows, despite very little credible data that shows it has positive effects on athletic performance. “Got Milk?” takes on a whole new meaning. 

It’s the definition of a woo-woo health trend that sounds crazy, and to a certain extent, it is. Yet some researchers have found it’s beneficial in a totally different way than the gym bros initially suspected. 

A growing body of research conducted over the last 10 years shows it can protect endurance athletes from the risks of rigorous training schedules and the elevated exposure to infection they get while traveling and in large stadiums. It still helps athletes, but instead of making them faster or stronger, it provides a boost to their immunity. 

The initial theories around the supplement’s benefits have been disproven, but that hasn’t diminished interest within the medical community, and there’s reason to believe that anyone’s ability to ward off illness could benefit from a (small) scoop of freeze-dried cow milk every day. 

IGF-1 Muscle Growth, and Colostrum

“If you take colostrum within the first 0-24 hours after birth, and test it, it’s very high in IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor,” said Glen Davison, a professor of sport and exercise science who specializes in immunology at the U.K.’s University of Kent. His lab is producing the bulk of the latest colostrum research.

IGF-1 is a driver of muscle growth, hence its ability to help babies develop fresh from the womb. Grown men, however, assumed that it would help supercharge their muscle growth after hours spent pumping iron in the gym. 

Initial research also showed that this was the case, often with small groups of athletes taking colostrum and comparing their performance to a placebo group consuming whey protein, or similar replacement. 

The problem with these studies, however, is they’re not designed to isolate colostrum as the cause of the enhanced performance, since it’s not a 1-1 substance compared to standard protein and athletic performance will improve naturally over 6-8 weeks regardless of which supplements one is taking. 

“My suspicion is that the performance-enhancing effects that were found in the early studies weren’t because it was colostrum. They were because they were getting a bit more protein and some more micronutrients that were contributing to their training gains,” said Davison. 

Davison also explained that these previous studies assumed that certain larger proteins within colostrum were able to permeate the gut barrier in adults in the same way they do in children. However, more recent research has shown this is not the case. An adult gut has far more barriers than a baby’s within the first few days of its life, so larger proteins, like IGF-1, aren’t able to pass through and have an impact. They’re broken down and digested like any other protein. 

Nonetheless, groups of heavy lifters in America hopped on the bandwagon in the early 2000s, and began buying freeze-dried powders from China in the hopes that their muscles would swell without hundreds of pounds of iron. Since then, dried bovine colostrum powder has remained a supplement for rumored benefits for fitness, beauty, and overall wellness. 

Michael Bosstick is the CEO of Dear Media, the podcast studio, and co-host of the podcast The Skinny Confidential HIM & HER, which has over 200 million downloads. Earlier this year, he defended his use of colostrum to guest Scarlett Johanson live on the show who questioned the practice. Bosstick shared he didn’t know where the “powder” comes from, but that he’s also used a liquid form on his face. 

Wellness podcast hosts, they’re just like us. 

Davidson noted that other supplements, like whey protein and beta-alanine, are likely superior to colostrum in their benefits for gym performance and recovery. 

“Beta-alanine is 10 times better at increasing muscle recovery capacity than colostrum ever will be,” said Davison. 

“If you were to compare it to creatine, it’s not going to come close in terms of benefitting resistance training, strength development, and all those sorts of things.” 

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Davison said the initial testing groups likely didn’t design the studies to confirm commercial interest on purpose, but the standard follow-up studies that tend to be more robust and dive deeper into the initial interest weren’t conducted because “they’d gotten the answer they wanted.” 

Marketing a product to men with the promise of better gym performance is, perhaps, more lucrative than a product that helps you avoid the common cold. Davison and his team are nonetheless more focused on the latter. 

Colostrum’s Daily Flu Shot

Davison’s colostrum studies focus on professional endurance athletes who are not only frequently taxing their immune systems through intense exercise, but are also more exposed to illness. 

“There’s a pretty strong body of evidence that shows supplementation with bovine colostrum can reduce the incidents and/or the duration of these [colds and flus] in active individuals, in those who are training hard,” said Davison. 

“The proportions tend to be about 50% to 30% reduction in the risk of contracting it and/or the duration it’ll persist for, or the ratings of severity people give to that illness.” 

This happens due to “passive immunity,” or the strengthening of the immune system through transmission of proteins as opposed to being exposed to an illness and developing antibodies. The larger proteins bodybuilders assumed would be the golden ticket don’t get through, but smaller proteins do and may strengthen the body’s immune defenses. 

Where to Find Colostrum

Colostrum is frequently sold in powder form since it’s easier for the body to absorb and easier for folks who can’t swallow pills to consume. 

Consumers looking to find high-quality colostrum should look for two things, according to Davison. 

“There’s definitely massive variability in the quality of these products. One of the things [one should look for] is the total protein content and one of them is the total IGG content — that can give you an indicator. The higher those things are, the more likely you’ve got high-quality colostrum,” said Davison. 

“They’re not the reason for it but they’re a surrogate marker that you’ve got a high-quality colostrum.” 

He also mentioned that colostrum that’s been exposed to high temperatures is less likely to be potent and beneficial since it can kill off beneficial proteins. For this reason, it’s important to store it in a cool place, like the refrigerator, and be wary of certain brands’ shipment practices. 

An exact timeline of colostrum’s benefits is hard to quantify, but Davison said that after 2-4 weeks of consistent use, the product’s full benefits have had enough time to take effect. 

Rahal, along with her team at ARMRA, developed a proprietary cold-chain pasteurization technique to avoid damage to the product. 

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This product is sourced from grass-fed cows on family-owned farms in the U.S., whose overflow production was formerly going in the trash. 

“Cows make about [seven times more] colostrum than their babies consume and it’s considered a waste product in the industry because they’re not allowed to sell it to their milk suppliers. It’s considered a separate good,” said Rahal. 

“Right now, it’s either thrown out or it’s stripped off to China because they’ve been using this stuff for decades. They know the benefits.” 

Davison uses a brand called Neovite colostrum in all of his studies, and trusts the quality of the product. He recommends anyone looking to vet specific brands check out the clinical research that’s been done and find the brands they used.

Here are a few other brands SPY editors recommend to frequent travelers, endurance athletes, or anyone who’s interested in an alternative immune system boost.