Bovine colostrum supplementation attenuates the decrease of salivary lysozyme and enhances the recovery of neutrophil function after prolonged exercise

Abstract

Oral supplementation with bovine colostrum (COL) has been shown to enhance immunity in human subjects. However, there is limited research on the use of bovine COL supplementation to counter exercise-induced immunodepression, as a model of stress-induced immunodepression, and previous research has focused primarily on salivary IgA. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of bovine COL supplementation on exercise-induced changes in innate immunity (neutrophil function and salivary lysozyme) in addition to salivary IgA. Twenty healthy, active men cycled for 2 h at approximately 64 % maximal oxygen uptake after 4 weeks of daily bovine COL (n 10) or placebo (PLA, n 10) supplementation. Blood and saliva samples were obtained before and after supplementation, before and after exercise. Exercise induced significant increases in markers of physiological stress and stress to the immune system (circulating neutrophils, neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio, immature granulocytes, atypical lymphocytes and plasma cortisol), but there were no differences between the COL and PLA groups. Significant group x time interactions (two-way mixed model ANOVA) were observed for neutrophil function (stimulated degranulation) and salivary lysozyme concentration and release (P < 0.05). Significant exercise-induced decreases were observed in these parameters, and bovine COL supplementation either speeded the recovery (neutrophil function) or prevented the decrease (salivary lysozyme) in these measures of innate immunity. These results suggest that 4 weeks of bovine COL supplementation limits the immunodepressive effects induced by an acute prolonged physical stressor, such as exercise, which may confer some benefits to host defence.

The effects of bovine colostrum supplementation on in vivo immunity following prolonged exercise: a randomised controlled trial

“…If there were any modulatory effects of COL on performance or stress responses, this could also contribute indirectly to effects on the immune responses. However, the present findings of similar leukocyte trafficking, and physiological measures, between groups (along with similar findings in the previous studies that also found no difference in stress hormone responses, e.g., [18,19]), suggest that subjects in this study were exposed to a matched exercise-induced stress, supporting the previous evidence that the effects of COL are not due to such indirect mechanisms.…”

“…The mechanism(s) behind such effects remain unclear, but it has been proposed that it is linked to COL reducing perturbations in cellular immunity following prolonged exercise [17]. We have previously demonstrated that COL blunts the decrease in blood neutrophil effector functions following prolonged exercise [18,19]. Shing et al [20] observed a prevention of a post-exercise decrease in cytotoxic/suppressor T cells during an intensive period of training.…”

Bovine colostrum supplementation enhances sensitivity of the in vivo immune response to a novel antigen following prolonged exercise

“…Although there was no effect on the summed response, there were clear differences at the lowest dose and increased sensitivity in the COL group. Taken together this supports previous evidence from our laboratory where COL has been shown to act as a nutritional countermeasure to the decreased immunity (and increased susceptibility to illness) following prolonged exercise( 1,2) .…”

Salivary extracellular heat shock protein 70 (eHSP70) levels increase after 59 min of intense exercise and correlate with resting salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) levels at rest

“…The NLR is recognized as an index to assess exercise stress (Gleeson and Bishop 2000). Several previous studies have reported that the NLR increases after intense exercise (Nieman et al 1995(Nieman et al , 1999Makras et al 2005;Davison and Diment 2010;Lancaster et al 2003). In the present study, the NLR increased after exercise compared with that at Pre, and the increase continued until 4 h after exercise.…”