Benefits of bovine colostrum in nutraceutical products

Abstract

Nutraceutical products are used to provide health and medical benefits, acting for prevention and treatment of different diseases. Colostrum is a natural product very rich in good quality macro-and micronutrients, and because of this, it is considered the best natural food supplement. In yogurt technology we can use milk and colostrum for increasing the biological and nutritional benefits. Nutraceutical yogurt with colostrums has very good benefits such as passive immunization because the colostrums is an excellent source of immunoglobulins and other high biological value proteins and lipids, carbohydrates, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Food products with colostrum are used in diet of children, adults, old people, in athletics diet, and also in patients' diet.

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Journal of Agroalimentary Processes and
Technologies 2011, 17(1), 42-45
Journal of
Agroalimentary Processes and
Technologies
______________________________________________
Corresponding author: e-mail: mirelaahmadi@yahoo.com
Benefits of bovine colostrum in nutraceutical products
Mirela Ahmadi
1
, Ariana-Bianca Velciov
1
, Mihaela Scurtu
2
, Teymoor Ahmadi
3
,
Lucia Olariu
2
1
Department of Biochemistry and Human Nutrition, Faculty of Food Products Technology, University of Agricultural
Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Banat Timisoara, Calea Aradului, Nr. 119,
RO-300645, Timisoara, Romania
2
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary
Medicine of Banat Timisoara, Calea Aradului, Nr. 119, RO-300645, Timisoara, Romania
3
Orthopedic I Clinic, Emergency Hospital County Timisoara, Bd. I. Bulbuca, Nr.10,
TM-00736, Timisoara, Romania
Received: 12 Januar 2011; Accepted: 11 February 2011
______________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract
Nutraceutical products are used to provide health and medical benefits, acting for prevention and treatment
of different diseases. Colostrum is a natural product very rich in good quality macro- and micronutrients,
and because of this, it is considered the best natural food supplement. In yogurt technology we can use milk
and colostrum for increasing the biological and nutritional benefits. Nutraceutical yogurt with colostrums
has very good benefits such as passive immunization because the colostrums is an excellent source of
immunoglobulins and other high biological value proteins and lipids, carbohydrates, antioxidants, vitamins
and minerals. Food products with colostrum are used in diet of children, adults, old people, in athletics diet,
and also in patients’ diet.
Keywords: nutraceutical products, bovine colostrums, yogurt
______________________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Colostrum is considered the first milk produced by
a lactating mammal and is secreted during the first
days after birth or calving. Literature presents very
many researches for bovine colostrums because
cow is the most popular animal for milk and
because the quantity of milk per a day is
considerable. Colostrum contains macronutrients
such as protein (immunoglobulins), carbohydrate
(lactose), fat, vitamins, and minerals, and also
bioactive components such as growth factors and
antimicrobial elements [1, 2, 3].
In table 1 are presented the compared biochemical
composition of colostrum (the first milking) with
whole milk (the 11th milking).
Table 1. The approximate composition of bovine milk a
the 1
st
and 11
th
milking [4].
Specification
Colostrum
(1
st
milking)
Whole milk
(11
th
milking)
Total solids (%) 23.0 13.0
Total Protein (%) 14.0 4.0
Casein (%) 4.8 2.5
Immunoglobulins (%) 6.0 0.09
Fat (%) 6.7 4.0
Lactose (%) 2.7 4.9
Minerals (%) 1.0 0.74
Thus, colostrum – as presented above in the table, is
very rich in proteins, immunoglobulins and minerals,
but has less lactose compared to the whole milk.
About the lipid content, some researcher found a
fewer quantum of fat in the first milk compared to the
mature milk [1].

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43
On the other hand, nutraceutical is a combination
between nutrition and pharmaceutical domain,
being a food product that with role in prevention
and treatment of some diseases.
The term of nutraceutical products is often used
for nutritional supplements that provide health
and medical benefits.
Nutraceutical products are classified in dietary
supplements, functional foods, medical foods, and
pharmaceuticals or farmaceuticals [5]. Thus,
dietary supplements refer, most of the times, to
concentrated micronutrients (vitamins or
minerals) or concentrated essential nutrients
(amino acids, essential fatty acids) as pills or
liquids.
Medical foods are formulas that should be
administrated under the attention of a physician,
and have to be correlated with the other foods
from the diet or with other medicals specific
treatments.Pharmaceuticals, also called
farmaceuticals, refer to medically valuable
compounds produced from modified agricultural
crops or animals [6].
Functional foods are food products fortified
(enriched) with important nutrients, after a
manufactures process called nutrification. People
prefer functional foods rather then nutritional
supplements. One physiological advantage
compared to dietary supplements is that the
functional food product is presented to the
consumer in a natural form not as a pill or syrup.
Also, the functional foods can be consumed as
diet, not as medicines.
Generally milk products can be fortified with
bovine colostrum, and become very good
nutraceutical food products. Thus, milk
nutraceutical products can include ice-cream,
yogurt, cheese – which, depending on the
manufacturing technology, are dietary food
products, indicated to all categories of people
from babies to mature and olds.
2. Materials and Method
Nutraceutical food products, fortified with bovine
colostrums have a lot of sensorial and nutritional
benefits, such as: improving the texture and
sensorial characteristics, nutritional enrichment,
prebiotic and nutraceutical effect. Yogurt or
ice/cream, manufactured with milk,
microorganisms for lactic fermentation, and
colostrums; is a milk product very rich in good
quality nutrients. Also, people prefer to eat for
breakfast or dinner yogurt, or ice-cream for desert.
The manufactured companies developed their milk
technology, so on the market we can find yogurt with
different fat content (from 0.1% fat – extremely slim,
to 5-7% fat – very fatty); added of different types of
fruits or cereals, and maybe in the next future we will
find yogurt with bovine colostrum.
The target of our study was to obtain a yogurt
fortified with bovine colostrum, using bovine
colostrum and yogurt Oke (Romanian Company) for
lactic ferments, and to make some physical-chemical
analysis.
The samples were constituted from yogurt Oke and
bovine colostrum in equal quantities, such as:
Sample 1: yogurt Oke and bovine colostrum (Oke +
BC-C 6 h) prelevated from a caw at 6 hours after
calving, from Criciova, Timis County;
Sample 2: yogurt Oke and bovine colostrum (Oke +
BC-C 16 h) prelevated from a caw at 16 hours
after calving, from Criciova, Timis County;
Sample 3: Oke yogurt and bovine colostrum (Oke +
BC-C 40 h) prelevated from a caw at 40 hours
after calving, from Criciova, Timis County;
Sample 4: Oke yogurt. Physico - chemical
characteristics of Oke yogurt are presented in
table 2.
Table 2. Nutritive components in Oke yogurt
Nutrient
specification
Measurement
unit
Oke
Yogurt
Proteins % 3.3
Carbohydrates % 4
Lipids % 2
Calcium Mg / 100 g 125
Energy Kcal / 100 g 48.53
We analysed the samples of nutraceutical yogurt with
bovine colostrum and determined the quantity of
lipids, the titre protein, and salt (as NaCl) content.
The lipid concentration was performed with Gerber
butirometer method; the titre protein was performed
with Sorensen Method; and the salt content with
Mohr Method. We used very good quality reagents,
and the prepared solutions were fresh and respected
the reagents indications concordant with the method.
Every data presented as result is the average of three
analyses.

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44
3. Results and Discussion
The results of our study are presented in table 3,
and the correspondence of the samples was
presented in the precedent chapter.
Table 3. Nutraceutical yogurt biochemical
characterisation
Sample
specification
Lipids
[%]
Titre Protein
[g subst
proteice / 100
g produs]
NaCl
[%]
Sample 1 Oke +
BC 6 h
2.2 2.32 0.4569
Sample 2 (Oke
+ BC-C 16 h)
2.2 2.22 0.4713
Sample 3 (Oke
+ BC-C 40 h)
2.2 2.01 0.3922
Oke Yogurt 2.2 1.95 0.3894
As we can observe, the content of lipids is
unchanged for all the samples, even for simple
Oke yogurt.
But, bovine colostrum influences the titre protein
of the samples and the salt content. Thus, the best
protein content of samples is in the samples with
yogurt Oke and bovine colostrum – at 16 hours
after calving and the less content of proteins is for
yogurt Oke and bovine colostrum – at 40 hours
after calving. Generally, the protein content of
samples decreases with the increasing the time
after calving.
The salt content is greater for the yogurt with
colostrums collected at 16 hours after calving.
Thus, if the sodium chloride content of samples 2,
with colostrums collected at 16 hours after calving
has 0.4713 g NaCl, then the sodium content for
this sample is 0.179 g Na (respectively 179 mg
Na). Concordant with USDA recommendations for
salt intake, the low sodium products contain less
then 140 mg sodium or 5% of Daily Value [7]. So,
our nutraceutical yogurt is medium salt content
food product.
These nutraceutical products are very important in
people diet because of their composition in very
good nutrients [8, 9]. Because of their protein and
immunoglobulins content, nutraceutical products
can help different patients to get a rapid recovery,
with a better health status and with lower costs for
the hospitals [10]. Also, these products are very
useful in athletic diets before, during and after
competitions. The recovery after effort is better
and quicker after a diet with colostrums fortified
food products [3].
4. Conclusion
Nutraceutical products are high value nutritive
products, because of their biochemical composition.
The protein content is very important in the first
hours after calving, and thus, the bovine colostrums
is very good for being used in fortified dietary
products.
Technology for nutraceutical yogurt manufacture is
not very different from the classical technology for
yogurt.
Because of the health benefits, yogurt products
fortified with colostrums are very good products for
athletic diets, for different people with various
diseases, for babies, children and adults.
The costs for manufactured nutraceutical yogurt are
not very different for yogurt. Bovine colostrum is a
product that can be obtained in the spring time, but it
can be preserved in different ways and being used as
row material in diary products technology, as
fortifying agent.
Because of bovine colostrums composition, the
nutraceuticals products with colostrums are
characterised as richer in proteins and
immunoglobulins, and lower in lactose content
compared to products manufactured from mature
milk. Also, the nutraceutical yogurt with bovine
colostrums is medium as the content of salt, and the
content of lipids can be easily controlled.
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