Colostrum may help your skin by having an effect on what is considered to be the cause of aging in some circles – oxidative stress.
Your skin is made up of the epidermis, which is the outer layer, and the dermis below it, and they are held together by the basal lamina. Skin aging shows up differently depending on which layer is affected. It also depends on whether your skin is going through intrinsic or extrinsic aging. Although everyone experiences both types, the degree of each varies from person to person.
Oxidative stress can affect both intrinsic and extrinsic aging because it increases naturally with age. In fact, oxidative stress is one of the main theoretical causes of aging, and so it is a major component in intrinsic skin aging. But because it can be accelerated through environmental exposure, it can be part of extrinsic skin aging as well.
The main reason to avoid UVA and UVB exposure is that it induces the production of free radicals, which damage the proteins in the skin, damage the DNA, and disrupt the mitochondria. An excess of free radicals relative to the molecules that fight them, the antioxidants, is what causes oxidative stress.
Being the largest organ and in direct contact with the environment, the skin is especially susceptible to oxidants and catalysts that can produce reactive oxygen species (free radicals), as well as reactive nitrogen species.
Free radicals are natural byproducts of many different processes of the system, they are molecules that have unpaired electrons, and so are unstable. As they circulate in the system, they encounter stable molecules, and essentially steal elections from them in order to become stabilized themselves. This makes the molecules they encounter become unstable, and so they also end up needing to steal electrons from other molecules.
The body is equipped to handle free radicals through the use of antioxidants, which donate electrons to the free radicals and interrupt the chain reaction of electron stealing. But if there are too many free radicals, your body can’t fight them all off, and you get oxidative stress.
- Oxidative stress in the skin leads to inflammation, and this inflammation fragments collagen, disorganizes its fibers, and disrupts the function of skin cells. This can contribute to different types of skin diseases, including cancer and accelerated aging.
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Skin Aging
Intrinsic skin aging typically involves a thinning of the epidermis, the outermost layers of skin cells, and a loss in the rete ridge definition. Rete ridges, which are also called papillae, are the extensions from the epidermis that reach down to the connective tissue underneath.
Also, the rate of turnover of skin cells slows as you get older. The skin also starts to lose its sensitivity due to a decrease in the number of nerve endings and a reduction in sex hormone production. Generally, as you age, your skin gets drier as well, which is further exacerbated if you have adrenal fatigue.
Although it isn’t always the case, generally, your adrenals can be more easily fatigued with age, as there can be a build-up of inflammation and other health conditions that overwork the adrenal glands and the NEM stress response. This is why it’s becoming more and more crucial to take proactive care of your health as the stresses of modern living intensify.
With extrinsic skin aging, which is accelerated by environmental conditions, such as UV-radiation (also called photo-aging), the skin can actually get thicker instead of thinner, and its composition begins to change. Avoiding harmful environmental factors and using natural skin creams and serums can mitigate extrinsic skin aging, but taking a holistic approach is always best as it can slow down both types of aging.
In both intrinsic and extrinsic aging, the extracellular matrix (ECM), including the interstitium, is the key factor in the aging of the dermis, which is the layer underneath the epidermis, and it can result in the reduction of collagen, hyaluronic acid, and elastic fibers. This can create the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. That’s because the interstitium enzymes are what process collagens, elastic fibers, and the proteoglycans that are found in connective tissues.
Keeping the interstitium clear, or doing a detox that focuses on interstitial health, can be one way to maintain skin health. But again, it is important to do so under supervision and not when you are in a debilitated state, such as in advanced stages of AFS. Better to start with cleaning up your diet slowly first, perhaps adding some colostrum to it, and strengthening your adrenals, before doing a detox that could potentially lead to a crash and a worsening of your condition.
How the Skin Rejuvenates
In order to heal skin issues, you need to build and repair it from the inside out. Inflammation and stress play a role, and healing the gut is essential for healthy, beautiful skin. But how do you know where you should put your focus?
There are a few tests to check if your gut is in need of special attention, including a stool test and an immunological blood test. These tests can show whether you have bacteria, parasites, or candida, and they can check whether you have a leaky gut.
Depending on the results, you can develop a diet and supplements plan tailored to your needs. In general, an anti-inflammatory diet rich in probiotics and prebiotics will be useful whether or not you have a leaky gut or other gastrointestinal conditions. You might want to consider taking a digestive enzyme and testing the levels of hydrochloric acid your stomach produces in case you need extra support for digestion.
How Colostrum Can Help Regenerate Your Skin
Supplementing with bovine colostrum may be a great option if you want to heal your skin, as it can provide nucleotides, immune factors, and certain growth factors that are needed to build and repair the skin. Some of its beneficial aspects include:
Epidermal Growth Factor (EgF)
EgF stimulates growth and differentiation of epidermal and dermal cells. Along with the EgF receptor, it plays a crucial role in wound healing. In fact, EGF is the growth factor that will help repair gut lining tissue. EgF receptor inhibitors are also used in certain cancer treatments.
Transforming Growth Factors (TgF)
There are two classes that fall under TgF: TgF-alpha, which binds the EgF receptor and activates cell growth and differentiation of the endothelial cells, and TgF-beta, which initiates a signaling pathway that inhibits the growth of cancer cells.
Fibroblast Growth Factors (FgF)
FgFs and FgF receptors regulate cellular proliferation, differentiation, and migration, and have been implicated in tissue regeneration in in vitro studies.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IgF-1)
IGF-1 may be the most important factor in bovine colostrum that affects aging. It is one of the most potent ways to activate the AKT signaling pathway. This pathway stimulates cell growth and proliferation while also inhibiting programmed cell death. Thus, it helps fight the metabolic effects of aging. The IGF-1 in bovine colostrum helps increase lean muscle mass and bone density, and aids in tissue regeneration.
IgF-1 is also a hormone with a similar structure to insulin. It supports childhood growth and has anabolic effects (helping with muscle growth and stimulating protein synthesis) in adults. The IgF-1 that is present in bovine colostrum is not absorbed directly by the human body, but it can stimulate the production of the body’s own IgF-1.
Transfer Factors
These compounds are messenger factors, microscopic molecules that communicate information regarding immunity from organism to organism. This information helps the receiving organism learn about immune threats, either internal or external, and how to respond properly. The transfer factors pass this information from immune cell to immune cell.
These transfer factors apparently contain RNA and proteins, but not DNA. They are small and non-allergenic. Taken orally, they retain full potency. One of the colostrum benefits for all mammals is the ability of newborns to take in these transfer factors and have passive immunity for any of the pathogens experienced by the mother.
Bovine colostrum has been researched extensively and found to be a safe and viable source of colostrum with transfer factors for human consumption. This is important due to the fact that the growth and immune factors in bovine colostrum are similar to those in human colostrum. One of the bovine colostrum benefits is the presence of glycoproteins and protease inhibitors that work to protect the active factors in colostrum from the destructive effects of the human digestive system.
Immunoglobulins are one of the transfer factors in the multitude of colostrum benefits. They are the primary active components of bovine colostrum and serve several purposes. They help to keep the immune system balanced, regulate the thymus which is a key factor in the immune system, help control inflammation nutritionally, and help protect against allergic reactions.
Only 2 percent of this immunoglobulin is found in human colostrum. But bovine colostrum contains 38 percent, specifically a protein antibody, IgG. This is an important immunoglobulin whose effectiveness has been proven against many microorganisms, some of which have developed resistance to current antibiotics.
Bovine colostrum also contains protease inhibitors that prevent the enzymes in the human digestive system from destroying the immunoglobulins. This lets the immunoglobulins go directly to the bowel where they adhere to the mucosal lining and produce antibodies.
Lactoferrin
Lactoferrin is also effective in fighting viruses and bacteria. Studies of MS subjects showed a positive response to the use of colostrum rich in IgA. No side effects were reported by these subjects. MS is one of those chronic illness conditions that is triggered or exacerbated by viruses.
Lactoferrin has been shown to aid in restoring the humoral immune response, mediated by T and B cells. Viral and bacterial infections have been reduced in the presence of lactoferrin in immunocompromised subjects. This finding may be important in reducing possible triggers for autoimmune chronic illness conditions.
Studies have also shown lactoferrin to slow the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 1-beta, a biological marker that can be elevated in inflammatory states. Inhibiting these proinflammatory cytokines is important in the remediation of autoimmune conditions in which inflammation increases pain responses.
Proline-Rich Polypeptides (PRP)
Proline-rich polypeptides (PRP) aid and regulate the thymus gland, the “master gland” for immune responses. Research has shown the PRPs in colostrum help build up a suppressed immune response. On the other hand, if the immune response is overactive, these PRPs will help to balance it.
These PRPs, also known as colostrinin, help prevent overproduction of lymphocytes and aid in the production of helper and suppressor T cells. This is the mechanism by which they help balance an overactive immune response found often in AFS.
People with long-lasting infections or multiple, recurring infections and those with chronically depleted immune responses have benefited from colostrum along with beta 1/3, 1/6 glucan (derived from mushrooms).
One of the major benefits of PRPs is their tendency to stop the inflammatory response. If you have a leaky gut, one of the major harmful conditions that come with adrenal fatigue, inflammation can become rampant in your system. This is partially due to a TH2 cytokine response. This response produces white blood cells that attack and damage the fragile gut lining.
As long as these TH2 cytokines are present, you can regenerate cells in your gut lining, but the TH2 cytokines will just destroy them again. That makes healing leaky gut almost impossible. The PRPs in colostrum stop TH2 cytokine production but allow beneficial white blood cells to continue their work.
The combination of colostrum’s PRPs stopping TH2 cytokine production and the growth factors in colostrum helping rebuild the gut lining speeds healing of leaky gut. This is another of the colostrum benefits that helps you deal with AFS.
Infopeptides
These are protein derivatives found in colostrum that have been found to reduce inflammation, swelling, pain, and fever. One clinical study showed people suffering from chronic rheumatoid arthritis and those experiencing treatment-resistant osteoarthritis obtained significant benefit from continued use of the infopeptides in colostrum. There were no reported side effects.
Oligosaccharides
Used externally, these compounds help in reducing wrinkles in the skin that so often are some of the first signs of aging. Used internally, they aid in the healing of the lining of the gut. These are long-chain sugars and act as natural prebiotics that feed the beneficial bacteria in the gut and help keep the digestive system functioning at its optimum levels.
Thymosin Alpha and Beta
These hormones are naturally produced by the thymus gland. The thymus is a gland located in the center of your chest. At birth, it is roughly the size of your heart, but it gradually decreases in size as you age. There may be little left of the thymus by the time you’re a senior citizen. This is unfortunate because the thymus is important in the functioning of a healthy immune system. There is some evidence that bovine colostrum may help in regenerating this small but very important gland.
Lactoperoxidase
This is an enzyme found in milk and colostrum that functions as an antimicrobial agent. Its primary function is to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. It also serves to fight gingivitis if it is allowed to dissolve in your mouth. Some evidence shows it may also regrow receding gum lines. Research suggests it also may assist in the consumption of cancer cells by white blood cells by stimulating them to do this.
Lactobacillus
Raw colostrum contains lactobacillus acidophilus, a beneficial bacteria that is important in the human immune system. When you take antibiotics, this causes an imbalance in your gut between good bacteria and those targeted by antibiotics, which essentially kill all bacteria. This imbalance shows up not only in your gut, but also in your skin, nose, throat, and mouth. Taking acidophilus helps by resupplying the gut with beneficial bacteria first, then overflows into other areas of your body. The naturally occurring prebiotics found in colostrum feed the acidophilus as well as other beneficial bacteria in your body.
Hemopexin
Along with lactoferrin, this nutrient found in colostrum may help in balancing the playing field between men and women where aging is concerned. One theory explaining the shorter lifespan of men around the world has to do with the fact that men don’t have menstrual periods in which blood is shed regularly. This may be important because of excess iron that circulates in men’s blood. It basically gets “rusty” and may cause damage that can accumulate over time. This is due to oxidation; iron is a pro-oxidant in the body. Together, lactoferrin and hemopexin tend to bind to excess iron and remove it from the body.
Nucleosides
Found in higher amounts in bovine colostrum, nucleosides have a number of beneficial functions in the body. One of the important beneficial functions of nucleosides is their tendency to help modulate the immune system. They change the immune system to make it work more effectively, rather than simply increasing it. Just increasing the immune system could stimulate underlying autoimmune conditions. In addition, nucleosides also improve iron absorption in the body and help in the desaturation of fats that makes them easier to digest.
In addition to the above health benefits of colostrum for your body, there are also some more general ones. These include building and restoring your hormonal system back to levels you had in your youth. Another general benefit of colostrum is to strengthen your immune system so that it functions optimally. It also restores and repairs your digestive system. In addition, it provides many of the nutrients essential for your optimum health.
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