2-FL (Human Milk Oligosaccharides) is a medical food which I wrote about in this August 2018 post. A reader ask for my thoughts on Enteragam, another prescription medical food. It’s Serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate

A general introduction to the topic of medical foods can be find in

The Emerging Therapeutic Role of Medical Foods for Gastrointestinal Disorders[2017].

• “A medical food, according to the FDA, is a food that is developed to be eaten or administered enterally under the guidance of a physician and that is meant for the specific dietary management of a condition or disease for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based upon known scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.

Current and emergent pharmacologic treatments for irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea: evidence-based treatment in practice[2017].

The US distributor describes is as:

“EnteraGam^® (a serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate, SBI) is a medical food product intended for the dietary management of chronic diarrhea and loose stools. EnteraGam^® must be administered under medical supervision. EnteraGam^® binds microbial components, such as toxic substances released by bacteria, that upset the intestinal environment. This helps prevent them from penetrating the lining of the intestine, which may contribute to chronic diarrhea and loose stools in people who have specific intestinal disorders.”

So, what is published about it?

• Clinical and Pathologic Remission of Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis with Serum-Derived Bovine Immunoglobulin Added to the Standard Treatment Regimen.[2017]
  • “SBI has been shown to induce clinical remission in adult populations and to decrease markers of inflammation in pediatric patients. ‘
• Impact of serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate therapy on irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease: a survey of patient perspective[2017].
  • ” Respondents with IBS who reported having a normal stool frequency (≤4 stools per day) increased from 35% prior to using SBI to 91% while using SBI. “
  • “A similar change toward normal stool frequency was reported by IBD respondents. “
  • “The majority of respondents agreed strongly or very strongly that SBI helped them manage their condition (66.9%) and helped them return to the activities they enjoyed (59.1%).”
• Potential mechanisms of effects of serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate therapy in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.
  • “increased abundance of Proteobacteria Burkholderiales, Firmicutes Catonella, “
• Management of inflammatory bowel disease with oral serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin. [2015]
• Bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate binds pro-inflammatory bacterial compounds and prevents immune activation in an intestinal co-culture model.[2015]

Bottom Line

. This is a promising medical food that may have implications across most of the conditions that I tend to look at. The absorption of toxins from bacteria makes it a universal treatment candidate.

If you have an opportunity to try it, I would recommend the experiment (and ideally reporting back here after 30 days).

A similar product (non-prescription)

Note: No explicit pubmed studies found on this product. It is also just one type of immunoglobulin.

SBI Protect Capsules