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04.08.2017

Colostrum packed with IGF-1, WADA advises against use

We didn't know about it, but stumbled across this by accident: the international anti-doping agency WADA discourages athletes from using protein supplements that contain colostrum. [wada-ama.org] Colostrum contains IGF-1, and that's a substance on the doping list. This prompted us to re-read carefully a study on the hormonal effect of colostrum, which Finnish sports scientists published in 2002 in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Colostrum
The milk that cows produce immediately after calving is called colostrum. Colostrum is intended to stimulate the growth of the calves and it contains, among other things, growth factors - such as IGF-1 - which are popular in injectable form in doping circles, and which the WADA has put on its doping list.

Study
At the beginning of the 21st century, Finnish researchers at the University of Jyvaskyla gave 19 track and field athletes 20 g colostrum every day for two weeks. A control group of 11 athletes was given 20 g maltodextrin every day.

Results
Supplementation with colostrum resulted in a statistically significant rise in IGF-1 levels of 17 percent.

Colostrum does indeed contain IGF-1. Milk also contains IGF-1, but the concentration of IGF-1 in colostrum is easily 100-200 times higher. In the preparation that the Finns used 20 g colostrum contained 74 micrograms of IGF-1. But does IGF-1 enter the bloodstream after being administered orally?

The Finns observed in a different experiment that, after giving participants synthetic IGF-1 [rh-IGF-1] orally with breakfast, their IGF-1 levels rose moderately but significantly throughout the course of the day, as you can see in the figure above.

The researchers did a series of other experiments which showed that part of the 'extra' IGF-1 was biologically active. We're talking about several percent, but anyway. There was an effect.

Conclusion
"The increased concentration of IGF-I may have positive effects on protein synthesis," the Finns concluded.

Source:
J Appl Physiol (1985). 2002 Aug;93(2):732-9.

More:
Milk instead of cola raises IGF-1 level 07.01.2010
More biotin, more IGF-1 04.08.2009
More fish fatty acids, more IGF-1 01.04.2009

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