Colostrum

For over 15 years Immupure has been the pioneer Premium Colostrum skincare brand.  Indeed, since its beginning on the 5th Avenue in NY, Immupure has promoted its usage has a skin nourishing and rejuvenating compound that should be part of your skin protocol.

What is Colostrum

Bovine colostrum (Colostrum) is the first milk produced after birth by the cow and is a rich natural source of macro- and micro-nutrients, immunoglobulins, and peptides with anti-microbial activity and growth factors.  There is strong and mounting evidence that it can be used in the treatment of children and adults’ ailments.

 Colostrum contains similar nutrients than milk with concentration levels changes. 

Macronutients

Proteins and Peptides 

Total protein concentration in Colostrum is about 15% compared to 3% in milk.  Casein proteins contain peptides with opioid-type activity and is the most predominant and has been shown to possess some anti-inflammatory properties.

Whey protein include immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, alpha-lactalbumin, beta-lactoglobulin, lactoperoxidase, glycol- macropeptide and several growth factors.  Many components of whey protein have been shown to be biologically active meaning they may influence immune activity, reduce inflammation, and stimulate repair.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates in Colostrum include lactose, oligosaccharides, glycolipids, glycoproteins, and nucleotide sugars. Lactose forms the predominant saccharide but is lower than in mature bovine milk or in human milk. Dietary oligosaccharides are present at approx. 1 g/L in Colostrum, roughly double the levels in mature milk and can act as prebiotics.

Vitamins and Minerals

Colostrum contains fat-soluble (A, D and E) and water-soluble (B series) vitamins that may be important for many metabolic processes including bone growth and antioxidant activity.  Moreover, Colostrum is also rich in several essential minerals including calcium, copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus.

Bioactive Components

Immunoglobins

In mammals, immunoglobulins are important in passing passive immunity from mother to offspring.  In contrast to humans, where immunoglobulins can pass through the placental barrier, this does not occur in cows.  Therefore the calf’s sole natural source of immunoglobulins is from the consumption of Colostrum.

Immunoglobulins comprise a variable region that determine antigen binding specificity and a constant fragment crystallizable region. Once an antigen is bound, immune complexes are formed, and the fragment crystallizable region interacts with multiple immune effector cells, such as phagocytes, NK cells, dendritic cells and CD4+ T lymphocytes through binding to their Fc receptors.

Bovine colostrum immunoglobulins can help prevent pathogen binding to host cells, present pathogens to macrophages for destruction, stimulate T cell and B cell immune activation, modify intestinal microflora, and induce local immunoglobulin A production. IgG can, therefore, provide both passive immunity and modulate the adaptive and innate immune systems.

Other Antimicrobials

A number of other Colostrum components present protection against various pathogens. 

Origins

In the early 2000 our founder, Mr. Detlef Fuhrmann observed that colostrum was being used in clinical settings in Europe has a wound healing cream.

Curious to investigate this further, he gathered 50 people indicated by dermatologists that were recruited due to specific skin ailments such as psoriasis, neurodermitis and acne vulgaris. The results were collated over a period of 8 weeks.

Ultimately all patients expressed to have benefited from the colostrum with at least a slight improvement. In all 3 test criteria some patients claimed to have had significant improvement.

Strong of these results he determined to corroborate those findings by running a private trial where over a 56 days period, twice-daily, applications of Immupure proprietary colostrum were done, he found that:

·       Skin thickness improved

·       Tone and tightness increased

·       Wrinkle depth and volume decreased

·       Stronger Collagen-I synthesis

It is with those observations that the Immupure Skin Perfecting System was developed!

Recent Advances

Since then, many advances have been done that explain the molecular mechanism that colostrum usage promotes:

Telomeres Protection

Telomere is a protein that protects the DNA information in the body. Our cells regenerate themselves constantly and need this information to clone themselves.  Throughout our lives, telomeres get shorter each time a cell replicate. When telomeres are too short it will cause premature cellular aging.

Long term UVA exposure has been recognized as the most important factor in skin aging.  Studies have demonstrated that in skin fibroblast (cells responsible for generating connective tissue and recover from injury) exposed to UVA had shorter telomere length than unirradiated controls.  In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered another cause of skin aging.  Studies have shown that ROS cause cellular biological aging owing to accelerated telomere shortening.

Recent in vivo study has shown that colostrum appears to exert a protective effect on telomere length erosion.

Keratinocytes Proliferation and Differentiation

The skin is comprised of as many as 20 different cell types. During aging, irreversibly growth arrested cells accumulate in different compartments of the human skin, leading to impaired skin.

The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin and consists of 5 sublayers, namely stratum basale, spinosum, granulosum, lucidum and corneum.

Keratinocyte, are the primary cells found on the epidermis, representing about 90% of epidermal skin.  They essentially form the skin barrier that protects against environmental damage by heat, UV radiation, water loss, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses.

Stem cells residing in the basal layer undergo proliferation (self-renewal) and differentiate (transform to acquire specific functions) upwards to form the upper suprabasal layers, ending in the stratum corneum, where dead cells are constantly being sloughed off.  This cycle typically lasts 20-30 days and is continually ongoing.

The imbalance between keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation leads to an impaired barrier function that can contribute skin diseases.

Colostrum is a natural source of growth factors, lipids  mediators,  and  calcium,  which are involved  in  the  balance  of keratinocyte proliferation at the deeper levels of the epidermis and differentiation which is the cellular transformation process that sees those migrate to the outer layers of the skin. 

In vitro studies have shown that colostrum could promote a keratinocyte proliferation as well as the switch to a differentiating state.  Also, it was shown to favor filaggrin  maturation, a protein that contributes to skin hydration, skin barrier integrity and microbial defence. This would be mediated by the action of calcium and growth factors on the skin.