‘My wife takes colostrum to maintain mobility and she swears it helps’

There are many health benefit claims for bovine colostrum, but unfortunately there is limited strong evidence to show those benefits specific to MS. Bovine colostrum is the first milk produced after a calf’s birth and is a rich natural source of nutrients, immunoglobulins, and peptides with anti-microbial activity and growth factors.

The evidence that would be needed to get the full backing of the MS clinicians is not good enough for colostrum to be suggested as a treatment. Colostrum products are not marketed as a medicine, but as a supplement or ‘nutraceutical’ (a hybrid word from ‘nutrition’ and pharmaceutical’).

There was a small trial using colostrum in the 1980s with people with MS which although was largely found to be safe and well tolerated, reported limited success. More recently, in 2016 a case report was published by Japanese researchers about an Australian man with secondary progressive MS who was given a therapeutic dose of Gc protein-derived macrophage-activating factor (Gc MAF). Gc MAF is derived from bovine colostrum. In this case, positive results were observed. This was a single case study and we weren’t able to find any follow up studies.

There is some evidence that bovine colostrum can potentially help with immunity, fight infection, and promote good gut health. These are all aspects that are important for the wellness of someone with MS.

Long time readers may remember that Ian Cook wrote a piece titled ‘the colostrum effect’ in issue 123 back in 2020. In that piece Ian had been using the supplement for a week without noticing any differences to his MS but was willing to continue purchasing the tablets. Helpline reached out to Ian. He had this to say – “I did try bovine colostrum a few years ago, which I bought from Ig Bioscience (www.igbioscience.co.uk).

“Liz Rostand, the founder of Ig Bioscience has MS and reported that taking colostrum had changed her life for the better. It sounded as though it was worth taking so I ordered colostrum tablets and took them for about a month. All I can say is that taking colostrum didn’t have sufficient positive effects for me to re-order. Arguably I should have taken it for longer to see positive effects.”

Do you have a question? Call the MS-UK Helpline Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm on 0800 783 0518.