Insights into the Research Trends on Bovine Colostrum: Beneficial Health Perspectives with Special Reference to Manufacturing of Functional Foods and Feed Supplements

Abstract

Bovine colostrum (BC) is the initial mammary secretion after parturition, which is nature’s bountiful source consisting of nutritional and bioactive components present in a highly concentrated low-volume format. All mammalian newborns require colostrum to enhance physiological processes such as lifelong immunity, gastrointestinal development, and resistance to microbial infections. The genetic, environmental, and processing methods can all have an impact on the biochemical contents of BC and its supplements. BC and its derivatives have been intensively researched for their potential use in functional foods, medicines, and animal feed. Evidence from clinical studies suggests that BC products are well-tolerated, nontoxic, and safe for human ingestion. Functional foods, feed, and pharmaceutical formulations based on bovine colostrum are playing noteworthy roles in the development of innovative products for promoting health and the prevention of chronic illnesses. This systematic review sheds light on recent research on (a) the effects of processing techniques on BC components, (b) emerging techniques used in the isolation and identification of novel components, (c) BC-based functional foods for human consumption and animal feed supplements, and (d) the role of BC in current drug delivery, as well as future recommendations.

Essential and Toxic Mineral Content and Fatty Acid Profile of Colostrum in Dairy Sheep

“…Ruminant colostrum has recently aroused considerable interest because of its potential nutritional and therapeutic effects also in humans [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], especially against inflammatory intestinal diseases [ 6 , 8 ]. Beyond its traditional use (e.g., a farm colostrum bank for lambs that have not been fed by their mothers) to reduce the use of antibiotics in newborns [ 9 ]), sheep colostrum can be used in human nutrition to make drinks or dietary supplements high in immunoglobulin.…”

Dietary Therapy to Improve Nutrition and Gut Health in Paediatric Crohn’s Disease; A Feasibility Study

“…Additional growth-promoting and mucosal repair factors include insulin-like growth factors 1 and 2, vascular endothelial factor, basic fibroblast growth factors and platelet-derived growth factor [ 12 ]. Improvements in processing conditions results in extended shelf-life of BC-based products with minimum loss of bioactive components [ 22 ].…”

Biochemical, dielectric and surface characteristics of freeze-dried bovine colostrum whey powder

“…Generically, bovine colostrum (BC) can be defined as immune milk or an alimentative viscous fluid, produced from the mammary glands of mammals right away from calving, that accounts for about 0.5% of the total cow annual yield ( Buttar et al, 2017 , Mehra et al, 2021 ). This fluid comprises numerous bioactive and nutritional components including, immunoglobin (IgG), lactoferrin, minerals, amino acids and other minor components in a highly concentrated low volume format ( Mehra et al, 2022 ). These bioactive components were clinically proven in the prevention and pre-treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC ) ( Awad, Salama, & Farahat, 2014 ), upper-respiratory-tract infection (URTI) ( Alsayed et al, 2020 ), enteric dysfunction ( Bierut et al, 2021 ), intestinal permeability, gastrointestinal ( Sanctuary et al, 2019 ) and other chronic diseases.…”

“…Bovine colostrum has a limited shelf life due to its high microbial load and low coagulation temperature, which further renders pasteurisation challenging ( Mehra et al, 2022 ). Alternatively, BC can be transformed into liquid whey either by acidification or by rennet coagulation to obtain the product with extended shelf-life as compared to raw ( Guo & Wang, 2019 ).…”