Human Breast Milk Poses Health Hazards Among Grown-Up Drinkers

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The human breast milk black market is thriving over the net and most of the buyers are not mothers. Doctors warn that there are health hazards for adults who drink this kind of milk.

The trend and market for human breast milk centers around dubious claims that it is a natural and raw super food that contains numerous health benefits such as cure for cancer and erectile dysfunction and that it can help athletes improve their athletic performance among many others.

Experts warn that buying breast milk online can pose health hazards as the health claims are not at all what they appear to be. According to CBS, raw human breast milk that is not properly handled or stored can be ridden with food-borne bacteria plus other infectious diseases coming from the mother including syphilis, hepatitis and HIV.

In a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, co-author Dr Sarah Steele, of London's Queen Mary University, explains that human breast milk sold at a premium online are falsely advertised.

"Online forums are replete with posts boasting about the immune, recovery, nutritional and muscle building benefits of human milk," Dr Steele and her team wrote. "No scientific study has evidenced that direct adult consumption of human milk for medicinal properties offers anything more than a placebo effect, and rather where breast milk offers clinical and nutritional researchers much promise is at a component or stem cell level."

"While many online mums claim they have been tested for viruses during pregnancy...sexual and other activities in the postpartum period may expose the woman expressing to viruses that they may unwittingly pass on to consumers of the milk," Dr Steele said in a press release, reports the International Business Times.

The authors added that there is less protein in breast milk and that like any other raw food, it may contain chemical and environmental contaminants especially since it is in an unpasteurized state.

CBS reports that there is evidence that breast milk may contain a protein-lipid called HAMLET, a new drug candidate that may be used to cure cancer. However, the trial results of the project by Sweden's Lund University do not translate to adult consumption of breast milk.

A popular community for buying, selling, and advertising breast milk is a website called Only the Breast. According to Newsweek, it is not only non-lactating mothers who join the website since there are also a lot of men who are looking for their own fresh supply of breast milk.