British scientists investigating natural ways to enhance athletic performance have had their latest study published in the American Journal of Physiology, providing evidence that Neovite colostrum can massively reduce gut permeability, commonly known as ‘leaky gut syndrome’, brought about when exercise raises core temperature.
The latest peer reviewed research is a major boost for Colostrum UK, the owners of the Neovite brand and a key supplier of colostrum in Europe.
Colostrum UK imports colostrum products from the world’s largest producer, Fonterra of New Zealand, and markets to both retailers under its brand Neovite and wholesale to established sports nutrition companies.
End-customers include professional and highly-ranked amateur athletes and sports people including Olympic medal-winners, national and international class cyclists, record-breaking long-distance runners, Rugby Union teams and Premier League soccer teams.
Commercial colostrum is marketed on the basis of its bio-active proteins, which effect the growth and repair of the body and which influence the immune system to:
• Promote digestive health and efficiency
• Fight infection and support the immune system
• Speed healing and recovery of damaged tissues
John Rolfs, Managing Director of Colostrum UK, the Neovite brand owner, noted that “Exercise induced gut disorders are common in athletes, the popular description is ‘runners trots’. As well as causing diarrhoea, cramps and nausea, they can significantly affect performance and health.
“This study gives us the medical science to improve endurance performance and heat stress tolerance.”
Medical researchers at Bart’s and the London Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry and sports scientists at Aberystwyth University have joined forces to look at the cause of gut disorder and to investigate its remedy.
A group of 12 athletes were asked to run on treadmill for twenty minutes at 80% of their aerobic maximum. At the end of their run they drank a solution of complex sugars with molecules normally too large to be digested through a healthy gut wall.
To the extent that these do enter the bloodstream they can be collected in urine in the following hours, to measure the increase in gut permeability. Each candidate’s core temperature was taken. After 20 minutes their core temperatures rose by up to two degrees and their gut permeability increased by 250%.
When the group were given a daily drink of dairy colostrum for two weeks before the exercise, their permeability increase was reduced by 80% despite the same effort and same temperature rise.
Meanwhile, laboratory studies identified the changes in gut barrier function. Gut cells were cultured at normal 37 degrees body heat and also at 39 degrees to replicate the rise in temperature during exercise. The death rate of gut cells was much increased at the higher temperature.
When colostrum was added to the culture medium this rise in cell death was reduced by two thirds. Its presence led to a six-fold increase in the secretion of heat-shock protein, a natural protection against cell damage.
The body’s first response to increased gut permeability is to clear the gut contents to avoid the transfer of toxins from gut organisms. Once in the bloodstream, these can trigger a range of symptoms leading up to ‘heat-stroke’ where internal organs can suffer possibly fatal damage from toxic shock.
Colostrum has been shown to nourish and support the gut to maintain its barrier function against toxins, despite elevated core temperatures.
Neovite will be exhibiting on Stand Q8 at the 2011 Triathlon Cycling and Running (TCR) Show at Sandown Park on 11-13 February. Tri fans, runners and cyclists alike can visit the stand and receive some free Neovite colostrum to try out!
