Colostrum: 'liquid gold' or the latest wellness fad?

In February, "queen of quiet luxury" Sofia Richie launched her signature $21 "Sweet Cherry Smoothie" at an upmarket organic grocery store in Santa Monica. The star ingredient? Colostrum.

Also given the moniker "liquid gold" thanks to its rich, golden colour and slew of potential health benefits, colostrum is the first milk produced by female mammals in the days immediately after giving birth. The nutrient-dense liquid is packed with antibodies and antioxidants to boost newborns' immune systems.

But now bovine colostrum is being touted by the wellness sector as a trendy health supplement. According to an industry report cited in Forbes, the colostrum industry was worth £1.76 billion in 2023 – a figure that's expected to climb to $1.83 billion this year.

Disappearing bald spots

Dr Sarah Rahal, founder of ARMRA Colostrum, spent two years developing a low-temperature pasteurisation technique that keeps it in its "raw form" to retain the nutrients, and transforming the ingredient into a powder. She claims her supplements can help with everything from digestion to muscle repair and fuller hair. "My bald spot that's been there for 20 years has started to grow back in," she told Forbes.

While "experts said it's not entirely clear" how colostrum supplements improve gut issues, said Claudia Lopez Lloreda in The New York Times, some studies indicate it could help to "maintain the integrity of the gastrointestinal system" and relieve digestive problems.

However, there is no "rigorous, published data" to support claims that colostrum can lead to skin regeneration, weight loss or "reverse age-related changes". And in the same paper, Dr Per Sangild cautioned that taking the supplement could "carry risks": while colostrum helps to establish a normal gut microbiome in babies, "this might not be what a healthy adult needs".

While it's unlikely to "do you any harm", Dr Leeming told Vogue, colostrum supplements are pricey, and there are plenty of less costly and "more impactful" strategies you can implement to support your gut microbiome instead like eating "more polyphenol-rich foods, ferments and omega-3s found in oily fish".

'Jersey cream on steroids'

Colostrum is also starting to appear on menus, including at Josh Overington's restaurant, Mýse, in North Yorkshire. Guests finish their meal with a "bite-sized custard tart" made with sweetened bovine colostrum. It tastes like "Jersey cream on steroids", the chef told Tessa Allingham in The Telegraph, and has a hint of "grassiness".

As demand grows, though, it's getting trickier to come by. Calves are given the first share: they typically need around three to four litres in the first six hours after their birth.

Rebecca Mayhew sells unpasteurised colostrum at her pasture-fed dairy, Old Hall Farm, in Norfolk but, she told the paper, supply is dictated by the animals and "there's often a waiting list". Like the supplements, it certainly doesn't come cheap: Mayhew's unpasturised colostrum sells for £19.50 a litre – "but then it is liquid gold".