How does colostrum help athletes?
初乳對于運動員的益處
By Joanna Moorhead
作者：Joanna Moorhead；譯者：譯銳醫學專業譯者Joyce Ye（B級） 審閱：譯銳質控部
When Team GB member Zoe Smith was described by a newspaper as being "on a special diet of colostrum", the weightlifter was outraged. "I assure you it's not true," she tweeted. "I'm a normal person who eats normal food and the occasional protein shake. Stop making me sound like a colostrum drinking freak!"
當看到某家報紙媒體報道“自己將初乳作為特殊食品進行食用”時，Zoe Smith，這位英國奧運代表團的舉重選手難以遏制自己的怒火。她發推特稱，“這簡直就是無稽之談。我是一個正常人，我的飲食也很正常。我只有在很少的情況下才會喝一些高蛋白奶昔。所以，別再把我說成一個飲用初乳的怪物！”
Perhaps Smith's reaction reflects a misplaced distaste for ingesting milk created straight after a cow gives birth, but while she isn't takingbovine colostrum, plenty of other British Olympic athletes will be – and with good reason.
Smith的態度也許體現了她本人對牛初乳莫名的反感與厭惡。盡管她本人不會飲用牛初乳，但這并不代表其他英國奧運選手也不會飲用。其實，飲用牛初乳的英國奧運選手并不在少數，而且理由充分。
"It's not a wonder food," says Dr Glen Davison, a sports scientist at the University of Kent, "but it can be very useful in boosting the immune system, especially during periods of intense physical training and when someone is under a lot of stress."
肯特大學一位研究運動的科學家Glen Davison博士表示：“牛初乳并非什么神奇的食品，但是它對于增強人體的免疫系統，特別是在高強度體能訓練期間或高壓力狀態下，則具有非常明顯的作用。”
Colostrum is produced by all mammals in the first few days after giving birth. This first milk is packed with a huge amount of goodies, including immunoglobulins, anti-microbial peptides and other bioactive molecules including growth factors – a nutritional armoury designed to get a newborn through the critical first few days of life. Its properties have been revered for thousands of years across many cultures: in ancient Chinese medicine it was regarded as a vital health-giving potion, and for the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania it has long been regarded as an important part of a healthy diet.
所有的哺乳動物在分娩后的最初幾天內都會分泌乳汁，這種乳汁被稱之為初乳。初乳中含有大量有益成分，如免疫球蛋白、抗菌肽以及諸如生長因子等其他生物活性分子。這些營養成分能夠幫助新生生命安然度過生命最初的關鍵幾天。幾千年來，初乳的營養特性在許多文化中一直受到推崇。古代中醫認為，初乳是一種非常有益于健康的食品。而肯尼亞和坦桑尼亞的馬賽人則長久以來一直將初乳視作為健康飲食不可或缺的一部分。
Over the past five years it has become an increasingly popular dietary supplement for many athletes. It is converted into a powder, and added to other drinks and shakes.
在過去五年多的時間里，初乳作為一種補充食品正受到越來越運動員的歡迎。初乳被加工成乳粉，然后被添加到其他飲品和奶昔當中。
"Most of the commercially available bovine colostrum here comes from organic cows in New Zealand," says Davison. "It's not clear yet what the optimum amount to take per day is, but some studies show benefits from as little as two grams."
Davison博士表示：“絕大多數能夠從市面上購買到的牛初乳都來自新西蘭的有機奶牛。牛初乳每天最佳的攝入量具體是多少目前還不得而知。但已經有一些研究表明，牛初乳的攝入量只要超過2克，就會對健康有益。”
Gastroenterologist Professor Raymond Playford of Plymouth University has researched the benefits for athletes of taking colostrum. "When they are in intense periods of training, many athletes develop gut problems –'runners' trots' – which can have a serious effect on their performance," he says. "They're caused by a combination of stress and by the raising of their body's core temperature by about two degrees, which seems to increase the permeability of the gut wall and that in turn allows toxins into the bloodstream.
來自普利茅斯大學的胃腸病教授Raymond Playford以運動員為對象，針對攝入初乳對健康所帶來的益處展開研究。他表示：“在高強度的訓練期間，許多運動員的消化道都會出問題--‘跑步性腹瀉’--會嚴重影響參賽者的比賽表現。腹瀉的原因主要是比賽壓力以及肛溫升高（大約會比賽前升高2度左右）。在這種情況下，腸道壁的滲透性可能會升高并從而導致毒素進入到血液當中。”
"My studies show that this tendency to leakiness increases two- to three-fold during intense exercise, such as the training athletes are undergoing now to get ready for the Olympics. But if they take bovine colostrum for two weeks prior to exercise, the change in gut leakiness is almost completely prevented."
“我的研究表明，在諸如為備戰奧運會而進行的高強度訓練期間，毒素滲透到血液當中的可能性將增加二到三倍。如果運動員在訓練開始前的兩周攝入牛初乳，那么腸道滲透的情況則幾乎可以完全避免。”
For athletes who fear gastrointestinal problems such as cramps, diarrhea and nausea, says Playford, pharmacological options to reduce the problems are limited – so there is a lot of interest in a natural product such as colostrum. However, it's not just gut problems that colostrum helps to relieve. Some of Davison's studies show that athletes who take it are as much as 20% less likely to get infections of the upper respiratory tract. "Last-minute illness is a real fear for athletes, and colostrum seems to give the immune system a boost that can reduce the risk," he says.
Playford認為，對于擔心比如腸痙攣、腹瀉以及惡心等腸道問題的運動員們來說，目前藥物治療方案還十分有限，因此人們開始將注意力投向諸如初乳等天然食品。其實，初乳不僅可以幫助減輕腸道問題。根據Davison的一些研究，初乳的攝入使運動員發生上呼吸道感染的幾率最多可以降低20%。據Davison介紹，“運動員最擔心的就是在賽前最后一刻生病，而初乳則似乎可以增強運動員的免疫系統并使身體不適的風險有所降低。”
Away from the Olympic stadium, other people could benefit from taking colostrum too. "It could be really useful to people who have to do physical exercise in hot conditions, such as soldiers in Afghanistan," says Playford. "They are susceptible to heatstroke because of all the gear they have to wear and carry, and taking colostrum could reduce that very serious risk. Another group who could benefit are older people with arthritis who develop serious gut problems because of the strong painkillers they use, and those with ulcerative colitis. "These patients are at risk of damage to their gut lining and the colostrum helps it to heal and reduces its permeability."
除了在奧運賽場上拼搏的運動員，攝入初乳對于其他類型的人群同樣大有裨益。Playford說：“對于那些需要在酷熱的環境下從事體力活動的人群，比如阿富汗的士兵們，初乳確實能夠發揮有益的作用。因為這些士兵們需要全副武裝，因此他們極有可能中暑。而攝入初乳則可以使中暑的幾率大大降低。另外一群能夠從攝入初乳中獲益的人群則是患有關節炎的老年患者和潰瘍性結腸炎患者。由于服用的止痛片具有極強的藥效，因此這些老年患者都患有非常嚴重的腸道類疾病。”這類患者都面臨著腸道壁受損的風險，而初乳則可以幫助腸道壁恢復并減少滲透。
Colostrum is sometimes referred to as a "nutriceutical" – half-nutrition, half-pharmaceutical. Crucial for Olympic hopefuls is the fact that – as far as scientists can tell – it doesn't introduce substances into the body that will give positive results in drugs tests. The International Olympic Committee is monitoring its use.
初乳有時被稱作是“營養性藥品”，也就是既是營養品，也是藥品。據科學家的判斷，初乳不會將會使藥檢結果呈陽性的物質帶入人體。這一事實對于奧運會種子選手們而言至關重要。國際奧委會對于藥物的使用有著非常嚴格的規定。
Jeni Pearce, a nutritionist for Team GB says she is aware that some athletes will have used or are using the substance. "Athletes are often on a nutrition programme that has been worked out uniquely for them," she says. "And within that, colostrum could be useful – especially for those who might be at risk of leaky gut conditions."
Jeni Pearce是一位為英國奧運代表團服務的營養師。她表示，她知道有些運動員打算或已經開始攝入初乳。她說：“運動員經常會按專門為他們量身定制的營養方案安排飲食。在這些營養方案中，初乳可能會發揮非常有益的作用，特別是對于那些可能會遇到腸道泄漏問題的選手們而言，則更是如此。”
"It seems pretty clear that there are no performance benefits. Colostrum isn't going to make a competitor go faster or stronger or longer. And it isn't something they would take as a one-off – it would be part of their diet for a while, to help them cope at times when they were really stressed."
“現在，有一點似乎已經非常清楚，那就是初乳對于運動員的發揮沒有任何提升作用，他們不會變得更快、更強或更遠。而初乳的攝入也并非一次性。初乳將作為日常飲食的一部分需要運動員飲用一段時間，這樣才能夠在他們真正感到“壓力山大”時發揮作用。
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