When we first started working on Leapfrog IMMUNE in 2018 as a new immune support supplement containing the powerful anti-viral protein Lactoferrin, we couldn’t have imagined the coronavirus pandemic that was just around the corner. We launched in September 2020, in between national lockdowns, as the first Lactoferrin supplement brand in the UK. Our formulation included 250mg of Lactoferrin, a little-known protein that is found naturally in the body and can be sourced from cow’s milk. Leapfrog IMMUNE immediately created waves within the media and caught the interest of customers looking for natural actives with antimicrobial effects.

Roll on 6 months, and the testimonials we have received about Leapfrog IMMUNE are all we could have wished for – the combination of Lactoferrin + Zinc + Vitamin C often being called “magic”.

“Took it at the onset of a cold, and no cold appeared – Leapfrog must have worked its magic!”

“I think Leapfrog IMMUNE is a bit of a miracle. At the first hint of a sniffly cold, I chew on one of the orange pills and the cold never develops. It’s kind of magic.”

We are always humbled to get your feedback. Now that it seems the tide of the pandemic is finally turning, we thought we would share a detailed experience from a customer suffering Long COVID:

“My family got Covid with Boris and I got it last. At the time, I was a super-healthy 47-year-old teaching pilates and looking after 4 teenagers. I barely drank and had a pretty good diet (the 80:20 rule). I got Covid quite badly and it took 4 months before I could walk a mile without collapsing in bed. The recovery wasn’t linear, and whilst some days were good, others had me back lying down with terrible fatigue, feeling sick and with a tight chest. I had every test under the sun and nothing showed up apart from slightly low iron. I was recommended to take Lactoferrin by a friend who had used it to recover from Glandular Fever and around the same time I was messaged about Leapfrog by another concerned friend. I ‘leapt’ on Leapfrog, as I hadn’t yet found a brand that I trusted. I now take Leapfrog and Symprove alternate months and attribute my recovery fully to these products. I have been taking both since September and am 99% back to normal.”

Nutritionist Emma Davies BA(Oxon), DipNUT, mBANT, CNHC, AFMCP, who we at Leapfrog are lucky enough to consult with, then explained to wellness icon Liz Earle on February 10th 2021 how Lactoferrin might help protect against COVID:

“I think Leapfrog IMMUNE is a fabulous product, especially in the context of COVID. We need to prevent illness, and that’s what a lot of people aren’t doing in their lifestyles. Something as easy as lactoferrin is great, because it’s made by the body. What I love about lactoferrin is that you’re using something that naturally modulates the immune system, because a lot of the things that we know about – like echinacea, which is in preventative sprays – can be very stimulating. Where it’s needed lactoferrin boosts: so if we need more innate immunity it will boost those neutrophils and macrophages to kill the bugs.”

Emma goes on to explain how Lactoferrin prevents viruses from entering into healthy cells in the body:

“There were studies done in SARS-CoV-1 in 2002 that lactoferrin was shown to stop the virus docking – it docks on a human cell and then gains entry via the ACE2 receptor. Lactoferrin blocked the HSPG (heparan sulfate proteoglycans), which is where the COVID virus lands and then it surfs across to the ACE2 receptor, and lactoferrin is able to stop it at the HSPG site before it attaches to the ACE2 receptor and gets into our lung lining (the epithelial lining is full of ACE2 receptors). We’ve just got a study out to show in vitro only – not yet done in humans – that lactoferrin does the same thing with COVID-19. It will stop the virus from entering the cell.”

The study that Emma mentions in the interview, published on January 23rd 2021, is entitled: Protective Effects of Lactoferrin against SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Vitro. The study data supports Lactoferrin as an immune modulator of the antiviral immune response with moderate effects against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Read it here.

At Leapfrog, we are keeping up to date with the several clinical trials across the world that are investigating Lactoferrin as a preventative for COVID-19. Lactoferrin, a natural protein that exists within every one of us, is slowly gaining recognition for its therapeutic potential, with over 8,900 scientific studies and counting.

As Emma says:

“Where lactoferrin is so special is because we make it naturally in the body. It modulates, and you get a much more nuanced approach when you use something that’s naturally within you.”