Colostrum Is the Hot Gut Health Supplement That Seems Gross but Makes Sense

Years ago, I assigned a foodie writer to survey California’s agricultural riches. She delved so deeply into the local and organic farming scene, she uncovered an underground farmer’s market ring selling bovine colostrum—illegal since it didn’t conform to state milk safety regulations. A decade later, I find myself answering a call from a bored friend waiting in line to pick up a delivery of raw milk from a Mennonite dairy farm in an anonymous parking lot. My point here is, there’s gold in them there cow udders, especially if you’re hip to the recent mainstreaming of colostrum benefits in wellness circles.

Colostrum is the first nourishing fluid that flows from a mammal to its young. (Yep, humans also secrete colostrum at the onset of nursing.) Not exactly milk, this pre-milk is rich in protein and immune-boosting chemicals that are believed to be nature’s way of boosting offspring’s chances of survival. After a short period of colostrum production, Mama Mammal starts pumping milk until her youngster is weaned. In the past decade, fringe wellness practices of ingesting raw milk and specifically colostrum have moved from being a marginal practice to being fashionable. Today, colostrum is a trending ingredient slung from the aisles of Los Angeles’s posh grocers and hotly debated over viral TikToks. Sofia Richie put it in her $21 Erewhon smoothie. As a skeptical wellness enthusiast who can’t seem to maintain a balanced and regular diet then wonders why she’s constantly spaced out, stressed out and dyspeptic, I wanted to understand more about this so-called superfood. I vowed to try it for a month.

My first drink of the stuff was positively candy-like, since I enjoyed the powder mixed into a limited-edition drink served at an Erewhon in Venice, California. Salted Maple Cowboy Brew was made with Cowboy Colostrum, the blue-chip brand in the space. (Other notable makers include Armra colostrum and Costco’s Zena Nutrition.) I sipped the iced organic cold brew latte containing vanilla-flavored Cowboy Colostrum, topped with salted maple cream and drizzled with caramel (a deliciously sweet treat that went down smoother than any flavored latte I’ve ever enjoyed). Meanwhile, the two childhood friends who started Cowboy Colostrum explained how their forays into wellness over they years left them less-than-well. They ticked off dis-ease I could relate to, when they described being protein deficient after stints with veganism, falling prey to colds and flus and other ailments. After trying colostrum and finding its regular use improved everything from their energy level and concentration to hair and skin radiance, they were sold on bringing colostrum to the masses.

This stuff works, they explained, because the nutrients in colostrum target gut health, the focus of so much new nutritional health. “People have learned the gut is like a second brain,” said co-founder Steph Stoikos. “Colostrum repairs the gut lining, builds the gut microbiome, and it's like a blueprint for the whole system that is rich with probiotics and prebiotics. It’s a really packed superfood.” The founders sent me home with a can of the powder and instructions to start with what they call “a hero dose,” i.e. two or three scoops of the stuff mixed into warm coffee, tea, water or a smoothie. I learned to follow their pro tip, which is to froth the powder into fluids for best mixing, since the only mildly processed milk derivative contains animal protein that resists dissolving. I first tried it in my morning coffee, and then discovered the joy of having it for an evening ritual, like co-founder Jessy Shenfeld does. “I like it at night as a nightcap, a little warm strawberry or chocolate milk drink,” she said.

I’m disappointed to say that colostrum did not, as Red Bull promises, give me wings. Nor did I notice hair-extension-like thickness in my new hair growth over the one month since I’ve started it. (Although my cuticles and nails stopped looking so thin.) But as is the way with superfoods, which balance each individual’s bodily functions as needed, I did notice a faster drop-off to sleep after my colostrum nightcap, and after a couple weeks I could detect less of a hair-trigger nervousness, even though I was in an especially fraught life transition. Additionally, I didn’t experience an immediate energy but did feel an overall extra couple gallons of gas in my tank most days, whereas before I might have needed a nap. And I didn’t suffer the sinus pressure I usually do when I have a lot of dairy, perhaps since colostrum contains less lactose concentration (and more protein) than whole milk.

In terms of immune boosting, I'm happy to report I have not experienced the UTIs, sore throats and non-healing bug bites of summer that I usually would during times of high stress, which I’m attributing to a stronger immune system. I’m sorry to say I’ve not started eating any better and actually stopped exercising regularly, but I’m feeling great, really. Just don’t take away my nightly colostrum cocktail, and I’ll be fine.