Colostrum Helps to Strengthen the Immunity of Adolescents and Children

Children and adolescents are at important stages of development, and it is also critical stages for strengthening and improving immunity. Bacterial, gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections (URTI's) have become serious public health problems, which have led to a variety of adverse events closely related to immuno-compromise.

Colostrum Helps to Strengthen the Immunity of Adolescents and Children

Colostrum provides natural growth stimulators, such as islet growth factor (IGF), which can promote intestinal development and nutrient absorption, thereby effectively improving the body’s immunity, and helping to reduce the incidence of diseases in adolescents and children.
Supplementation with colostrum significantly increases the concentrations of:
  • interleukin (IL)-2, which increases the growth and activity of other T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes, and affects the development of the immune system.
  • interferon-γ (IFN-γ ), a cytokine that provides protection against diseases by acting directly on target cells or through activation of the host immune system. IFN-γ can educate immune cells to recognize and destroy pathogens.
  • granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, a growth factor that regulates the proliferation, differentiation, and functional activation of monocytes.
  • Monocytes are a type of white blood cell (leukocytes) that reside in your blood and tissues to find and destroy germs (viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa) and eliminate infected cells.
  • decreases the level of interleukin-6 (IL-6),a pro-inflammatory cytokine that causes inflammation.
suggesting that bovine colostrum can exhibit immuno-modulatory effects by modulating T lymphocytes. These cells play a vital role in both components of active immunity, including cell-mediated and to some extent humoral immunity.
Colostrum supplementation significantly stimulates the CD21+/CD3+ cell population in the intestinal mucosa. These cells remember pathogens and activate ‘attack cells’ that tackle pathogens. Colostrum also stimulates the increase in Th1 cytokines (responsible for killing intracellular parasites and for perpetuating autoimmune responses)and Th2 cytokines (stimulate and recruit specialized immune cells, such as eosinophils and basophils, to the site of infection) in different organs, suggesting that Colostrum helps to promote the production of immune cells.
Clinical studies have found that the total number of URTI infections decreased dramatically from 8.6 ± 5.1 at baseline, to 5.5 ± 1.2 after two months, with a significant reduction in the number of URTIs, diarrhoea attacks, and hospitalizations in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), indicating that Colostrum is effective in preventing URTI and diarrhoea.
Similarly, in preschool children, six weeks of Colostrum supplementation has been shown to prevent and reduce the severity of URTIs in preschool children, and this protective effect can be sustained for up to 20 weeks with no significant side effects. These results indicate that both long-term and short-term BC supplementation can provide excellent anti-URTI effects and higher safety in children.
The defence mechanism of upper respiratory tract infection consists of two main points:
  • the barrier formed by the mucosal epithelium effectively prevents microbial attack on tissues, and
  • the improved immune protection provided by the body’s specific immune system.
Treatment with 20 g per day of Colostrum for six weeks in regularly trained adolescents significantly enhanced their salivary immunoglobulin A (slgA) concentrations, suggesting that Colostrum intervention may have a role in modulating mucosal immunity, a very important attribute that helps to guard against respiratory viruses. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that the reason for the anti-URTI protection provided by Colostrum may be related to its increased mucosal regeneration of the upper respiratory tract.
At the same time, in a double-blind randomized controlled trial, the use of Colostrum in the treatment of acute diarrhoea was effective, reducing the frequency and duration of diarrhoea in children, presumably related to the high levels of immunoglobulin provided by Colostrum. Another meta-analysis also showed a strong association between Colostrum and a reduction in the frequency and symptoms of infectious diarrhoea in children.
The above studies have shown that providing certain Colostrum supplementation in children can significantly improve their immunity and reduce the incidence of diarrhoea and URTI, which is related to the abundant immuno-reactive components provided by Colostrum, with a long duration of this protective effect.