Bovine Colostrum: What Wellness Influencers Are Buzzing About

Emma Laing, clinical professor and director of dietetics in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences’ nutritional sciences department, spoke with The Guardian about bovine colostrum, a recent obsession among wellness influencers. “Colostrum is the first form of milk produced by mammals immediately after giving birth,” Laing explained. It’s especially rich in immunoglobins, cytokines and growth factors. Can humans benefit from bovine colostrum? Sort of, but there are still a lot of unknowns. “There is not enough evidence for scientists to reach a consensus on the safety, effectiveness and optimum dose of bovine colostrum supplements,” Laing said. Because supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, there is no standardized practice for manufacturing the product. Various factors that affect colostrum quality — such as cow age and genetics or environmental factors like temperature — are not consistently controlled for, which can lead to high variance of safety and effectiveness of colostrum supplements. “It becomes a ‘buyer beware’ scenario,” Laing said.