Foods high in colostrum

Why the answer is not a food list

People who search for foods high in colostrum are usually hoping to find it in a shop or on a menu. The sources we use point the other way. No everyday food supplies colostrum, and the reason is built into how milk is made and sold.

Ordinary milk is not a useful source. Mature cow's milk has about 0.4 to 0.9 mg of immunoglobulins per mL, against 42 to 90 mg per mL in colostrum.¹

At either end of the immunoglobulin range, colostrum holds about 100 times as much as mature milk. Those figures are for mature cow's milk. We found no measurements for yogurt, cheese or other milk products in the sources we used, so this page makes no claim about them.¹

Why shop milk has almost none

A cow makes colostrum only in the first days after calving, and then her milk changes. It is the later milk that dairies sell as milk.^1,2

Under FDA's standard of identity, milk sold in the United States is the secretion of healthy cows that is practically free from colostrum, and packaged milk for drinking must be pasteurized or ultrapasteurized.²

The cutoff is looser than it sounds. No formal rule says how many days after calving a product can be called colostrum, although it is generally accepted up to day 3, and some producers sell what they call late colostrum collected on days 5 to 7. The rule above is American. We did not look up the rules in other countries.¹

How colostrum gets from the farm to a powder

Bovine colostrum is normally collected and frozen on the farm, then shipped frozen to a central plant, where it is pasteurized, may be defatted and may have its lactose removed, and is then spray-dried or freeze-dried to a powder.¹

Colostrum routinely goes through short-time pasteurization, about 15 seconds at 72 °C, or batch pasteurization at 60 to 63 °C for 30 to 60 minutes. Dried powder is normally stored at room temperature, and most commercial powders have a shelf life of at least a year.¹

That route explains why a powder is the practical source. Fresh colostrum exists for only a few days after each calving, and a dried product that keeps for a year or more can be sold at any time.¹

The powder is sold as it is or made into sachets, capsules, chewable tablets and soft chews. Reviewers list foods where it has been or could be used as an ingredient: cheeses, jellies, yoghurts, ice cream, nutritional bars, milk powder drinks and ready-to-drink beverages.¹

The wording matters. The review describes these as categories where colostrum has been or could be used, which is not the same as foods you will find on a shelf, and we checked no brands.¹

Foods used alongside colostrum in trials

The only foods that appear next to colostrum in the trials are carriers, not sources. The two low-dose trials used freeze-dried doses packed with dried banana. The student trial took each dose with water or a teaspoon of natural yogurt. A review of exercise trials describes powder stirred into water and milk.^4,5,6,7

By one laboratory's measurements, a 10 g serving of colostrum carries about 3.2 times the IGF-1 of a 200 mL glass of milk, about as much as 40 g of whey protein.⁸

That comparison is a laboratory figure for one growth factor in one product. It shows how concentrated a powder is, not what it does in the body, and most studies found that colostrum does not raise blood levels of that factor.⁸

What's in ours

Raw and farm-fresh colostrum, and milk allergy

Raw milk, which has not been pasteurized, can carry harmful germs such as Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and Campylobacter, and so can foods made from it. Colostrum straight from the cow is raw milk until someone pasteurizes it. The germs can be especially dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, children, older adults and pregnant women.^1,3

FDA warns that raw milk marketed for pets and animals is not safe for people to drink.³

If a seller offers fresh colostrum, ask whether it has been pasteurized, and do not use a product made for calves or pets as a food for yourself.³

• Avoid colostrum in any form, food or powder, if you have a milk allergy. It keeps the proteins of cow's milk.¹
• Ask first if you are pregnant, have a weakened immune system or are thinking of giving it to a child. FDA names these groups as most at risk from raw milk.³
• Ask first if you are lactose intolerant, because colostrum contains lactose.¹

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Playford RJ, Weiser MJ. Bovine Colostrum: Its Constituents and Uses. Nutrients. 2021;13(1):265. Opened 2026-10-01.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 21 CFR 131.110, Milk (standard of identity). Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Opened 2026-10-07.
3. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Dangers of Raw Milk: Unpasteurized Milk Can Pose a Serious Health Risk. FDA consumer page. Opened 2026-10-07.
4. Hałasa M, Maciejewska D, Baśkiewicz-Hałasa M, et al. Oral Supplementation with Bovine Colostrum Decreases Intestinal Permeability and Stool Concentrations of Zonulin in Athletes. Nutrients. 2017;9(4):370. Opened 2026-10-01.
5. Hałasa M, Maciejewska-Markiewicz D, Baśkiewicz-Hałasa M, et al. Post-Delivery Milking Delay Influence on the Effect of Oral Supplementation with Bovine Colostrum as Measured with Intestinal Permeability Test. Medicina (Kaunas). 2020;56(10):495. Opened 2026-10-01.
6. Baśkiewicz-Hałasa M, Stachowska E, Grochans E, et al. Moderate Dose Bovine Colostrum Supplementation in Prevention of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Medical University Students: A Randomized, Triple Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Nutrients. 2023;15(8):1925. Opened 2026-10-01.
7. Jones AW, March DS, Curtis F, Bridle C. Bovine colostrum supplementation and upper respiratory symptoms during exercise training: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2016;8:21. Opened 2026-10-01.
8. Davison G. The Use of Bovine Colostrum in Sport and Exercise. Nutrients. 2021;13(6):1789. Opened 2026-10-01.