Co-administration of the health food supplement, bovine colostrum, reducesthe acute non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced increase in intestinal permeability

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are effective analgesics but cause gastrointestinal injury. Present prophylactic measures are suboptima l and novel therapies are required. Bovine colostrum is a cheap, readily av ailable source of growth factors, which reduces gastrointestinal injury in rats and mice. We therefore examined whether spray-dried, defatted colostru m could reduce the rise in gut permeability (a non-invasive marker of intes tinal injury) caused by NSAIDs in volunteers and patients taking NSAIDs for clinical reasons. Healthy male volunteers (n = 7) participated in a random ized crossover trial comparing changes in gut permeability (lactulose/rhamn ose ratios) before and after 5 days of 50 mg of indomethacin three times da ily (tds) per oral with colostrum (125 ml, tds) or whey protein (control) c oadministration. A second study examined the effect of colostral and contro l solutions (125 ml, tds for 7 days) on gut permeability in patients (n = 1 5) taking a substantial, regular dose of an NSAID for clinical reasons. For both studies, there was a 2 week washout period between treatment arms. In volunteers, indomethacin caused a 3-fold increase in gut permeability in t he control arm (lactulose/rhamnose ratio 0.36 +/-0.07 prior to indomethacin and 1.17 +/- 0.25 on day 5, P < 0.01), whereas no significant increase in permeability was seen when colostrum was co-administered. In patients takin g long-term NSAID treatment, initial permeability ratios were low (0. 1 3 /- 0.02), despite continuing on the drug, and permeability was not influenc ed by co-administration of test solutions. These studies provide preliminar y evidence that bovine colostrum, which is already currently available as a n over-the-counter preparation, may provide a novel approach to the prevent ion of NSAID-induced gastrointestinal damage in humans.