Lactoferrin as Treatment - Hepatitis Message Board

kackles · 04-24-2003, 11:27 AM

When I first told my chiropractor I had hepc, the first supplement he told me to get was colostrum, which is a great boone to the immune system. Lactoferrin is in colostrum. I LOVE MY COLOSTRUM!
Love & Blessings, Karolyn

Follwing is from Pubmed (notice the doctors are all Chinese):

Hepatol Res 2003 Mar;25(3):226-233

Long-term follow-up of chronic hepatitis C patients treated with oral
lactoferrin for 12 months.

Ishii K, Takamura N, Shinohara M, Wakui N, Shin H, Sumino Y, Ohmoto
Y, Teraguchi S, Yamauchi K.

Second Department of Internal Medicine, Toho University School of
Medicine, 6-11-1, Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, 143, Tokyo, Japan

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Bovine lactoferrin (bLF) has been shown to prevent
the infection of cultured hepatocytes by hepatitis C virus (HCV). The
present study attempted to clarify the effects of long-term
administration of bLF on serum parameters, including immunomodulatory
cytokines, in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). METHODS:
Sixty-three CHC patients were randomly assigned into 2 groups. At an
oral dose of 600 mg/day, bLF was administered for 12 months to 36
patients (bLF group), while no bLF was given to the remaining 27
patients (control group. Serum levels of alanine aminotransferase,
HCV-RNA, IL-10, and IL-18 were evaluated, as well as CD4-positive T
cell subsets in the peripheral blood. RESULTS: The serum IL-18 level
was increased by bLF administration, but not in the control group.
After 3 months of bLF treatment, it was significantly higher than
before bLF administration, but it decreased gradually thereafter. The
percentage of interferon (IFN)-gamma+ and IL-4- (Th1) cells in the
peripheral blood increased along with the serum IL-18 level, although
the change was not statistically significant. The other parameters
did not change significantly during the study period in both groups.
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that oral administration of bLF to
CHC patients for up to 3 months can produce a Th1-cytokine dominant
environment in the peripheral blood that favors the eradication of
HCV by IFN therapy.

PMID: 12697243 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Boonies · 04-24-2003, 08:33 PM

Hi Kackles, What is Colostrum or Lactoferrin derived from? Is it used in combination with a treatments? Sounds like it could clear out the bowels by the way it is spelled or does it have a tie to milk?

sean · 04-24-2003, 09:02 PM

Hi
Colostrum is the first milk produced by the mother immediately after birth, and for the first few feedings. Cow (bovine) colostrum, of course, not mother's milk is what's sold as a supplement. Both bovine and human colostrum are very rich in immune factors such as lactoferrin and immunoglobulin, to portect the newborn baby.

It's hard to see how it could be anything but healthful, but I think you'd have to take a very expensive number of the capsules I've seen on the shelves to be a meaningful dietary quantity. I went to the store near me to find out.

To get 600 mg. of lactoferrin, as in the report here, you might need as much as 30 grams of colostrum, or 60 of the capsules. Maybe if some day they sell it like they do whey (which is closely related, but not so concentrated in immune factors), in big tubs for a few bucks, it would become affordable.

That's about all I can figure out about it from generlly available sources.

happy eating!

sean

askherjohn82 · 04-25-2003, 07:05 AM

interesting post Kackles, i will be looking into that!
keep the faith, bless you............mj

askherjohn82 · 04-25-2003, 07:09 AM

great reply sean, thanks for posting what you know, for those of us that are just learning of this, your reply is of great help.take care
keep the faith, bless you........mj