Immune Defenses of Colostrum and Milk in Human and Animals

Abstract

The concept that milk, mammary secretions and the mammary gland have significant roles in immune defense is an old one. The bactericidal property of milk was recorded in the late nineteenth century. Also, observations at this time on the ability of milk to provide immunity to the newborn assumed a key role in the development of modern immunology. The mammalian neonate can’t to collect, chew, or digest solid food, depending completely on the colostrum of its mother and subsequently on milk for its survival. In addition to providing a complete diet with all the essential nutrients for the neonate through the initial period of its life, colostrum also gives basic immunological protection against surrounding pathogens. In ruminants specifically, for which no exchange of immune factors happens in uteri, colostrum and milk provide protection through high immunoglobulins (Igs) or antibodies content, without which the ruminant would not, survive Larson et al. [1].