HIMF Supplementation

[Guest guest]

I read a very interesting article this morning on active.com (I

subscribe to their newsletter) having to do with exercise-induced

inflammation. An excerpt follows below.

Best regards,

Celeste

" Until recently, this was about all you could do. But a new type of

supplement known as HIMF (which stands for hyperimmunized milk factor)

is showing great promise as a way to reduce the sort of inflammation

runners deal with daily.

" Special immune stimulants can be administered to cows, causing them

to produce milk containing antibodies with powerful anti-inflammatory

properties. These antibodies are present in regular cow's milk in

small amounts, but thanks to a series of recent technological

advances, it's now possible to isolate and concentrate these

anti-inflammatory antibodies in a convenient supplement form: HIMF.

" Research suggests that HIMF reduces inflammation by reducing the

number of neutrophils that successfully pass through blood vessel

walls to the site of tissue damage. An early study showed that HIMF

reduced neutrophil migration to a site of inflammation by 75 percent.

" Subsequent studies involving osteoarthritis sufferers found that HIMF

was effective in reducing joint pain and stiffness, and one study even

found HIMF to be 60 percent more effective than glucosamine in

restoring joint junction.

" A study involving competitive runners didn't look at inflammation

directly, but instead investigated the effects of HIMF on factors that

one would expect to be positively impacted by reduced post-exercise

inflammation: muscle recovery, training progress and race performance.

In this double-blind, randomized study, performed by researchers at

the University of Puget Sound, runners received either a daily HIMF

supplement or a placebo (regular milk) for six months.

" On average, the runners receiving the immune milk experienced

significantly greater improvements in post-workout recovery time,

muscle damage levels, perceived improvement in training, and even

5K-race times than those receiving regular milk. The HIMF-supplemented

subjects also experienced a slight decrease in body fat percentage due

to muscle weight gain.

" Future studies will be needed to investigate the effects of HIMF on

post-exercise inflammation in athletes and to establish a link between

this effect and the improvements in training quality and race

performances observed in the Puget Sound study.

" In the meantime, you may consider undertaking your own experiment by

trying an HIMF supplement for a few weeks. As yet there are only a

couple of HIMF supplements on the market: MicroLactin, which is

marketed mainly to arthritis patients, and RX-98, which combines HIMF

with a whey protein isolate and is made specifically for athletes. "

Full article at http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12914