2.1. Participants
RECRUITMENT
The current study was a randomized clinical trial (No. ISRCTN13834604, date 7 November 2023) designed to compare the effects of 6 months of supplementation with bovine colostrum on the functioning of the immune system in football players. Participants were randomly assigned to study and placebo groups. A simple randomization method with computer-generated unique codes was used to assign the participants into the two groups (The study involved twenty-eight male athletes, football players playing in the III league Club, Chemik Moderator Bydgoszcz. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) competitive football training for at least 3 years; (2) male; (3) not taking any medications throughout the study; and (4) providing voluntary consent for participation in the study. The study participants did not report any health problems. Initially, twenty-eight volunteers were assessed as being eligible for the trial. The participants were assessed and randomly allocated to one of two groups: a supplemented group (A flowchart of the recruitment process of the participants into this study is shown in 