I just read a brief summary of a survey performed during the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt. Out of 52 athletes 28% complained gastrointestinal complications. It is well known that endurance performance influences the guts motility and permeability as does the food we eat.
Due to mechanical reasons, especially running hits the gut hardly, alterations in blood flow, body temperature or blood pressure, metabolic dysregulations and sympathetic over-stimulation a bundle of complications may arise, not only acute symptoms like a jelly belly, nausea, vomiting, pain, or diarrhea, but also those that show later days or even weeks after a tough race or intense training sessions.I think the effects that are caused by the translocation of bacteria into the blood and lymph circulation are still underestimated and not well studied. During strenuous and intense physical excerise the gut’s mucosal lining gets damaged and absorption processes are impaired. Translocation of bacteria is an additional phenomenon that means strain on an already stressed immune system that may lead to sickness, impaired recovery etc.
Biestmilch contains essential trophic (building) factors that are necessary to protect and heal the mucosal lining, e.g. substrates like glutamine, and growth factors like IGF-1 and -2 or EGF. These factors should be better called cell differentation or maturation factors instead of the misleading term growth factor (the term scares people away because IGF-1 being involved in doping, but as a subcutaneous overdose). Growth factors are essential for the gut to recover from lesions in its epithelial lining. You find them and them every day in meat, in milk, eggs etc and taken orally they are essential for our well-being.
Due the various reasons named above biestmilch makes sense for athletes who have a sensitive gastro-intestinal tract. It supports the recovery of the gut’s lining which is a highly dynamic, fine-tuned process.
1. The trophic factors in biestmilch contribute to the repair processes in the gut after strenuous exercise
2. Biestmilch decreases influx (translocation) of bacteria into the body circulation by its content of immunoglobulin A
3. It stabilizes an overstressed immune system. Immunity in athletes tends to be weakened
