* 25-year old Christian Sidler who was with the Swiss amateur team Frank-Pneuhaus has now signed a contract to race for the Ericsson-Villiger team next season.
The paper mentions other research by Mero et al. who instead of testing long distance runners used sprinters as the basis of their research. The abstract below was taken from Medline. Mero et al. showed that colostrum appears to aid strength and speed type athletes, plus there was a increase in insulin. Insulin has anabolic effects.
Buckley et al. did not report any changes in IGF and this is perhaps because his sample population was a group of distance runners and their specific training was not conducive to the production of the anabolic affects.
What is even more important is the method by which the colostrum is taken. The Australian Institute of Sport medical staff have made a lot of the fact that the IGF effects do not occur because the IGF is broken down when it enters the stomach.
This raises the question which requires an answer: In what form was the colostrum taken? Were the tablets enteric coated? If they were then the coating protects the tablet from being broken down in the stomach. I am told that the use of enteric coating in this type of preparation is common.
It isn't clear yet folks!
Title: Effects of bovine colostrum supplementation on serum IGF-I, IgG, hormone, and saliva IgA during training.
Author(s): Mero-A; Miikkulainen-H; Riski-J; Pakkanen-R; Aalto-J; Takala-T
Source: J-Appl-Physiol. 1997 Oct; 83(4): 1144-51
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of bovine colostrum supplementation (Bioenervi) on serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), immunoglobulin G, hormone, and amino acid and saliva immunoglobulin A concentrations during a strength and speed training period. Nine male sprinters and jumpers underwent three randomized experimental training treatments of 8 days separated by 13 days. The only difference in the treatments was the drink of 125 ml consumed per day.
Post-training increases were noticed for serum IGF-I in the 25-ml Bioenervi treatment (125 ml contained 25 ml Bioenervi) and especially in the 125-ml Bioenervi treatment (125 ml contained 125 ml Bioenervi) compared with the placebo (normal milk whey) treatment (P < 0.05). The change in IGF-I concentration during the 8-day periods correlated positively with the change in insulin concentration during the same periods with 25-ml Bioenervi treatment (r = 0.68; P = 0.045) and with 125-ml Bioenervi treatment (r = 0.69; P = 0.038). Serum immunoglobulin G, hormone, and amino acid and saliva immunoglobulin A responses were similar during the three treatments. It appears that a bovine colostrum supplement (Bioenervi) may increase serum IGF-I concentration in athletes during strength and speed training.
Conclusion: It is performance enhancing and has anabolic effects in sprinters during strength and speed training. Again this would seem to be the primary motivation for using it rather than any other properties it might have.
Thanks Morgan!