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The biologically active components in bovine colostrum change very rapidly after the calf is born. Due to these rapid changes, it becomes necessary to know that it has the highest amount of biologically active substances and that you know exactly what makes up bovine colostrum.
Protein.
Proteins can give the most significant health benefits and is one of the biologically active substances found in bovine colostrum. The highest amount of proteins found in the mother are a few hours before birth and six to eight hours after birth. After about 24 hours after birth the only two proteins found in the mother of nutritional worth are albumin and casein.
Colostral Fat
The milk fat in complete first milking colostrum is one the most under-rated and misunderstood components by many companies that promote bovine colostrum for human consumption. There are all kinds of stories, none of which are ever substantiated with any scientific evidence that the fat in colostrum doesn’t serve any purpose and/or that having it there leads to faster deterioration of the product. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, one of the companies that removes the fat from what they call “colostrum” then adds a component of the fat back to their dried products. They claim that this makes their “colostrum” more digestible, which was one of the functions of the fat in complete colostrum in the first place. Casein is a nutritionally valuable complete protein that is broken down in the stomach to small peptides and amino acids so that they can be absorbed and used to build new muscle protein by forming a cottage cheese-like curd in the stomach. This occurs enzymatically in the newborn and the adult and the basis for the curd that forms is the fat in the colostrum. So without it, in addition to losing some significant biologically active substances that are associated with the fat, one loses most of the nutritional value of the casein. That is part of the reason why the fat content of colostrum increases with time after birth as the amount of casein increases in the secreted fluid. Mother nature doesn’t waste much and has organized the components of colostrum and their changing pattern in an efficient way to maximize the benefits to the offspring that is going to receive it.
20-30% of the ?first milking? colostrum is milk fat. Some beneficial biologically active substances found in that milk fat are corticosteroids, steroid hormones, some growth factors, vitamins A, D, E and K and insulin.
Lactose (Milk Sugar)
10-15% of the ?first milking? colostrum is lactose. An enzyme in the calf’s stomach and saliva, called the lactase enzyme, break glucose and galactose down to create energy for the developing calf. The amount of lactose increases in the mother’s milk for the developing calf. The lactose content 6 hours after birth is half of what it is at 12 hours and a third of what it is 24 hours after birth.
Humans also have the lactase enzyme in their stomach and in their saliva. So when the enzyme is broken down it also gives humans an immediate metabolic energy. Some people are lactose intolerant due to their bodies producing none or very little of the lactase enzyme. Most of these individuals need not worry about using colostrum as a dietary supplement.
Other compositional considerations.
The benefits of ?first milking? colostrum verses milk can be found as follows:
Colostrum contains 10 times more vitamin A than milk.
Colostrum has 3 times the amount of vitamin D than milk
Colostrum contains at least 10 times more iron than milk.
Colostrum has more magnesium, phosphorous and calcium than milk.
Biologically Active Components
The ?first milking? colostrum biologically active components can usually be divided into categories. Most components fit into these basic categories: Growth Factors, Immune Factors and Metabolic Factors. Sometimes different suppliers of colostrum will give claims of their interpretation of results found in studies rather than the facts found by the scientific investigator. It is important to keep that in mind as you examine different colostrum suppliers.
Dr. Kleinsmith is considered one of the world’s leading experts on colostrum products. He is sought-after for media appearances; he travels worldwide in his continuing efforts to educate people about colostrum everywhere. His first book sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. You can read more about the benefits of colostrum at www.ImmuneTree.com