Last modified on February 26th, 2023
If you struggle with Crohn’s disease, you may be at a point where you’ll try anything for relief. Medicines often don’t work for people with Crohn’s, or they can have serious side effects. One remedy that people are increasingly looking to, for help with Crohn’s symptoms, is bovine colostrum. The following offers an overview of the best colostrum supplement for Crohn’s, and everything you should know about colostrum and Crohn’s.
Our selection for the best colostrum supplement for Crohn’s is from Sovereign Laboratories. Their product is liposomal colostrum powder. It’s a proprietary blend that provides up to 1500% more bioavailability over any other brand.
Features of Sovereign Labs Bovine Colostrum include:
- Boosts the immune system by restoring and boosting the GI tract
- Helps with gut permeability also known as Leaky Gut Syndrome
- Clinically proven to be 400% more effective than other brands of bovine colostrum
- Made from grass-fed, Grade A dairy cows that are antibiotic-free and certified cGMP, Kosher and Halal
- One-year money-back guarantee
- Only colostrum certified to contain a minimum of 25-30% immunoglobulins
- Contains 1.5% lactoferrin and growth factors
- Made up of 4.5-5% Proline-Rich Polypeptides
- Sovereign Laboratories doesn’t take colostrum needed by young cows at their dairy farm—instead, they let the calves have what they need first and take what’s left
- This is the only lactose-reduced bovine colostrum available
What do the reviews say about this colostrum?
- This colostrum is described by some reviewers as “life-saving,” and they say it helped them with a myriad of mystery symptoms they had been dealing with
- Some reviews say it helps with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, leaky gut, absorption issues, and intestinal parasites
- According to customer reviews, this product may help with symptoms of autoimmune disease
- There are reviews that indicate this colostrum can help with not only physical but also mental symptoms, such as improved mood and reduced depression
What Is Bovine Colostrum?
Bovine colostrum is a fluid that comes from cows after they give birth before the appearance of true milk. Colostrum contains proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. It also contains something called antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that help fight bacteria and viruses that cause disease. The antibody levels in cow colostrum can be as much as 100 times higher than what’s found in regular cows milk.
Bovine colostrum has been used by athletes for a while because they believe it can help them burn fat and build lean muscle. Athletes also supplement with bovine colostrum to increase stamina and athletic performance, and it’s not included on the banned drug list used by the International Olympic Committee.
Other reasons people use bovine supplements include to help boost their immune system, repair damage to the nervous system, improve mood and feelings of well-being, and to heal injuries.
When it’s applied to the mouth, bovine colostrum may help reduce the inflammation associated with diseases like oral lichen planus, and it can be used in the eyes for dry eyes.
There is a kind of bovine colostrum called hyperimmune bovine colostrum as well, and it’s produced by cows that have received certain vaccinations so that they then develop antibodies. The antibodies pass into their colostrum, and currently this type of colostrum is in clinical trials to help with diarrhea related to the AIDS virus, diarrhea associated with bone marrow transplantation and rotavirus diarrhea in kids.
According to research, it’s believed the primary way bovine colostrum produces positive effects is through the high concentration of immunoglobins. It may also increase the serum insulin-like growth factor and enhance immune response in humans. There is some evidence that bovine colostrum might prevent damage in the gastrointestinal tract related to the use of NSAIDs, and it is thought to be effective in treating distal colitis.
What is Crohn’s Disease?
Before finding a colostrum supplement for Crohn’s, you may want to learn more about the disease, particularly if you’re newly diagnosed or you have a family member or loved one who is.
The following are key things to know about Crohn’s disease:
- Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease causing chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract
- An estimated three million Americans are affected by Crohn’s, and it affects men and women equally
- This inflammatory bowel disease is most often diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 30
- Anywhere from 1.5% to 28% of people with IBD have a close relative such as a parent or sibling who also has Crohn’s or the other IBD, which is ulcerative colitis
- Crohn’s can affect any part of the GI tract from the mouth the anus, and the most commonly affected areas or the ileum which is the end of the small bowel and the start of the colon
- Ulcerative colitis is also an IBD, and it affects only the colon
- Treatment for IBD can be challenging, and there is no cure, but currently only options that can help induce remission or control symptoms
- Medications for Crohn’s disease are often focused on helping suppress the immune system’s abnormal response that leads to inflammation and the symptoms of the disease. When inflammation is suppressed, it can help reduce symptoms of Crohn’s like diarrhea and pain and it gives the tissue in the intestines a chance to heal.
- Along with medicines such as biologic drugs and immunomodulators, diet and nutrition changes can help with Crohn’s symptoms.
- Sometimes, even with the use of medication and proper diet, a person may need surgery for Crohn’s disease.
How Bovine Colostrum Helps Crohn’s
There are a lot of ways to help symptoms of Crohn’s naturally. One option is using a colostrum supplement for Crohn’s.
There is a fair amount of research looking at the effectiveness of colostrum for Crohn’s, and the following are highlights of this research:
- When someone has an inflammatory bowel disease, it usually involves an impaired intestinal barrier function. Bovine colostrum in research has been shown to create beneficial effects in colitis potentially because of colostrum’s immunomodulating effects.
- There is a protein in bovine colostrum called IgA, and it’s an antibody that plays a primary role in immune function. There are studies that show low levels of this can possibly lead to autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s. Colostrum may increase levels of IgA in the body to help support gut maintenance and repair.
- One of the clearest benefits of colostrum is its ability to help people dealing with loose stools and diarrhea, and those are key symptoms of Crohn’s disease and many other gut disorders.
- Bovine colostrum is high in lactoferrin, which is a moderator of inflammation. Lactoferrin is also a prebiotic that can stimulate the growth of good bacteria in the gut, and it can promote cell growth in the intestines, which can not only help with inflammation but can heal damage in the gut.
- Often, with Crohn’s because of intestinal damage, it’s difficult to absorb the nutrients you need, which can have far-reaching effects on your health. With colostrum, since it’s working to heal your gut it can increase the surface area of the lining of your intestine which will boost your nutrient absorption.
Discussing colostrum in terms of how it helps leaky gut can be beneficial to someone with Crohn’s or any other type of GI disorder, or autoimmune diseases that may not even initially seem to be linked to gut health.
Leaky gut is associated with many allergies and autoimmune diseases. The reason is that there are enlarged spaces between the gut wall’s tight junctions with leaky gut. Then, proteins are absorbed into the bloodstream before they can be completely broken down.
The immune system sees them as foreign invaders and starts making antibodies to attack them. Even if the proteins are from food, the immune system thinks it needs to destroy them.
When antibodies are created, they invade tissue and create an inflammatory reaction, and then over time inflammation becomes chronic.
In order to truly remedy intestinal permeability, people need to alter their diet and also often use supplements like bovine colostrum to repair the damage in their intestines.
How to Use a Colostrum Supplement for Crohn’s
If you’re considering using a colostrum supplement for Crohn’s, there are a few things to keep in mind, which include:
- Bovine colostrum doesn’t have any known drug interactions, and there aren’t any serious negative effects of using it as a supplement that is currently known, however if you’ve ever had an allergic reaction to dairy, you shouldn’t use a colostrum supplement for Crohn’s.
- The colostrum supplement for Crohn’s that we recommended above comes as a powder, and it’s an easy-to-use economical choice.
- Sovereign Laboratories recommends that if you have an inflammatory condition, digestive issues or an autoimmune disease that you take two teaspoons of powder each day. If you’re an athlete, they recommend around 10 to 20 grams of powder a day, which is around 1 ½ tablespoon to promote higher growth hormone levels.
- You might want to start with a low dose of colostrum for Crohn’s and then work your way up as your body gets used to it. You may experience an immune response that’s known as a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction when you first start taking it, and it happens because toxins are dying off in your body. Symptoms will typically subside within a few days.
- It’s best to take colostrum on an empty stomach with six to eight ounces of water.
- The Colostrum-LD that we recommend as the best bovine colostrum for Crohn’s is great because of the liposomal delivery that helps the bioactive components of this supplement reach your small intestine intact. This, in turn, allows for the maximum amount of absorption into the bloodstream.
- The amount of time it takes Colostrum to start working depends on the person. Some people start to experience benefits within a few days, and for other people it may be up to six weeks.
- It’s best to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle when to take colostrum for Crohn’s, to see the most benefits.
Overall, using a colostrum supplement for Crohn’s can be a good option with minimal risks and plenty of research to back up the potential benefits.
Ashley Sutphin Watkins
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