Buying human breast milk online poses serious health risk, say experts

Researchers call for regulation of internet sales of breast milk, boosted by demand from mothers unable to breastfeed, bodybuilders and fetishists



A woman breastfeeding her baby. In one study cited by researchers, more than 90% of breast milk purchased online was found to have bacterial growth. Photograph: Katie Collins/PA

Matthew Weaver

A growing market in online sales of often contaminated human breast milk – fuelled in part by bodybuilders and adults with a baby fetish – poses a serious risk to public health, according to experts.

Researchers from the University of London’s school of medicine and dentistry were so alarmed by their initial findings that they wrote an editorial in the British Medical Journal to warn of the dangers of buying breast milk online before their study was completed. The editorial says breast milk sold online should be screened for diseases such as hepatitis, HIV and syphilis.

Lead author Dr Sarah Steele said she feared that babies would die from unscreened milk sold online if the market was not regulated. In one of the studies she cited, more than 90% of breast milk purchased online was found to have bacterial growth. Some of the sellers interviewed included intravenous drug users.

Unregulated websites selling breast milk attract tens of thousand of users in the US, the research found. One site reported growing by 800 users each month. It also reported an emerging market in the UK on specialist sites as well as general retail sites including Gumtree and Craigslist. Premium prices of up $4 (£2.70) per fluid ounce (30ml) are offered by mothers who purport to eat only organic or vegan food, or can boast having “fat, chubby babies”, the researchers found.

The online market caters primarily for mothers who are unable to breastfeed their babies, serving as a cheaper alternative to regulated milk banks, where the milk is always pasteurised. But consumers also include cancer patients who believe breast milk has health benefits and gym enthusiasts who believe breast milk is a natural superfood. A third group of adult consumers are fetishists “who like to be fed like a baby, either from source or from a bottle”, according to Steele.

She told the Guardian: “I reserve my judgment on these things. The focus for us is that people need to be making safer feeding choices. In the adult market there are cancer patients who are desperate to try anything and a lot of people in the body-building and cross-fit communities who really don’t realise the dangers. They think it’s a natural superfood. They don’t realise that it could be contaminated with bacteria.”

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Steele explained the dangers: “When sellers freeze milk and send it in the mail it thaws out. That’s when bacteria has time to grow and and become really dangerous, especially for infants.”

She added: “We started this study from a curiosity point of view initially, but the public health data is so definitive on how dangerous it is that we couldn’t wait for the end of our project because that could have taken several years to complete. It was so damning that we felt we had to approach the BMJ and say: ‘This needs to get out there now.’ We don’t want to be writing the report after there has been an infant death in Britain.”

The editorial calls for healthcare workers to be trained to offer advice about how to acquire breast milk safely. Steele said: “We observed that mothers are often in a desperate state and are nervous about talking to healthcare professional about their difficulties feeding. The big danger is that more women turn online and that threatens the health of their infants. And with the adult market growing, we want to make sure people aren’t spreading communicable diseases in new ways, just as we are getting on top of things like hepatitis, syphilis and HIV.”

Steele said the health benefits for adults of drinking breast milk were unproven. “Human breast milk doesn’t really have that many advantages for adults,” she said. “It is certainly not what you need in the context of bodybuilding and cross-fit, as a post-workout recovery drink.”

She pointed out that consuming breast milk was regularly discussed on mainstream online bodybuilding forums.

The paper concludes: “Although breast milk holds many known benefits, seeking out another’s milk rather than turning to instant formula poses risks. When breast milk is screened and treated appropriately, as the World Health Organisation states, it remains second to a mother’s own milk as best for infant feeding. At present, milk bought online is a far from ideal alternative, exposing infants and other consumers to microbiological and chemical agents. Urgent action is required to make this market safer.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/24/buying-human-breast-milk-online-health-risk

The longer babies breastfeed, the more they achieve in life – major study

Brazilian study of 6,000 babies from all backgrounds since 1982 finds those who breastfed were more intelligent, spent longer in education and earned more
 Children who had been breastfed for 12 months had an IQ that was four points higher than those breastfed for less than a month, researchers found.

 Photograph: Getty Images
Sarah Boseley Health editor
Breastfed babies are more likely to turn into well-educated and higher-earning adults, according to a major long-term study.

Researchers in Brazil have followed nearly 6,000 babies from birth for the past three decades, enabling them for the first time to get an idea of the long-term effects of breastfeeding. Nearly 3,500 of them, now 30-year-old adults, accepted an invitation to be interviewed and sit IQ tests for the purpose of the study. Those who had been breastfed proved to be more intelligent, had spent longer at school and earned more than those who had not been. And the longer they were breastfed as a baby, the better they tended to be doing.

It is already known that breastfeeding can increase a child’s IQ by a small amount. The question that Dr Bernardo Lessa Horta from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil wanted to answer was whether this translated into greater intelligence and better prospects as an adult.

“Our study provides the first evidence that prolonged breastfeeding not only increases intelligence until at least the age of 30 years but also has an impact both at an individual and societal level by improving educational attainment and earning ability,” he said.

The study found babies who had been breastfed for six months, as recommended by the WHO, got most of the benefits enjoyed by those who were fed for longer. Facebook Twitter Pinterest
 The study found babies who had been breastfed for six months, as recommended by the WHO, got most of the benefits enjoyed by those who were fed for longer. Photograph: Katie Collins/PA
It is not just the age of the participants that makes this study unusual. Horta says it is free of the major complication of most breastfeeding studies because, when it began in 1982, it was not just the more affluent and educated mothers who breastfed in Brazil. Breastfeeding was not limited to one socio-economic group. It was, he says, evenly distributed across the social classes. So the higher achievers at the age of 30 did not come from better-off homes.

Nonetheless, in analysing their results, now published in the Lancet Global Health journal , they took account of family income at birth, parental schooling, genomic ancestry, maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal age, birthweight and type of delivery to try to avoid any of those factors skewing the results.

They found that all the breastfed babies had greater intelligence, as measured by a standard IQ test, had spent more years in education and had higher earnings. But the longer they had been breastfed, the greater the benefits. Children who had been breastfed for 12 months had an IQ that was four points higher than those breastfed for less than a month, had nearly a year’s more schooling and earned around £70 a month more – about a third more than the average income level.

Horta acknowledged he could not completely rule out the possibility mothers who breastfed helped their babies’ development in other ways. “Some people say it is not the effect of breastfeeding but it is the mothers who breastfeed who are different in their motivation or their ability to stimulate the kids,” he told the Guardian.

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But, he said, there is evidence from other studies of the nutritional value of mother’s milk, rich in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for brain growth. Some studies have suggested babies with a particular genotype are more likely to get the IQ benefit from breastfeeding than others. Horta and colleagues are now looking to see whether that applies in their cohort.

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months is recommended by the World Health Organisation. Horta said babies who had been breastfed for six months got most of the benefits enjoyed by those who were fed for longer. “Mothers should breastfeed for as long as possible,” he said, but he recognised that extended breastfeeding is not always easy for women. Less than a quarter of new mothers in the UK are still exclusively breastfeeding by the time the baby is six weeks old.

Dr Colin Michie, chair of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s nutrition committee, said: “It’s widely known that breastfed babies are better protected against chest and ear infections, are at less risk of sudden infant death and are less likely to become obese, but it’s interesting to see the benefits of breastfeeding for a prolonged period of time not only benefit the baby in the early years, but also translate into increased intelligence and improved earning ability later in life.

“It is important to note that breastfeeding is one of many factors that can contribute to a child’s outcomes, however, this study emphasises the need for continued and enhanced breastfeeding promotion so expectant mothers are aware of the benefits of breastfeeding. Furthermore, once mothers have given birth, we must ensure they are properly supported to continue breastfeeding for as long as they are able to.”

• This article was amended on 18 March 2015 because an earlier version referred to long-chain polyunsaturated acids. This has been corrected to say long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/18/brazil-longer-babies-breastfed-more-achieve-in-life-major-study

Natural superfood: is it time to regulate the sale of breast milk?

If bodybuilders and others are turning to it as a natural supplement and superfood, is it time to start regulating the sale of breast milk?

“Are you actually going to drink that?” I asked as I sat in my north London flat watching my friend dangle a plastic zipper bag of human breast milk in front of me.

My friend was enthusiastic about the prospect of drinking the milk, as he explained: “[The breast milk supplier] has now started bringing milk to my work. It helps me sleep. I’m just experimenting on myself the way I have always done.”

Then he did it. He downed a pint of human breast milk in one.

The breast milk boom

Only The Breast (OTB), dubbed the “Craigslist of breastmilk”, is the site my friend purchased his milk from. Set up in 2009 by couple Glenn and Chelly Snow, it bills itself as a community facilitating the market exchange of breast milk between willing participants. Since its launch the business has received considerable traction and has expanded from the US into Europe.

How much can you get for selling your body (parts)?

 

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OTB was primarily created to enable mothers to sell excess breast milk affordably to other mothers who are unable to breastfeed. Buying milk from long-established milk banks in the US is costly and OTB linked mothers with excess milk with those in need of it.

However, it seems that altruism isn’t the only motivation of sellers on OTB. In the US some mothers claim to make $20,000 (£13,000) a year from the sale of their breast milk. At the time of writing, selling listings reveal no mothers in the UK are willing to donate their milk for free to other mothers, but 31 are willing to sell their milk to men.

Breast milk, it turns out, has something of a reputation as a superfood within bodybuilding circles for building muscle and maintaining strength. It contains metabolic fuels and the raw materials needed to aid tissue growth and development, such as fatty acids, amino acids and minerals.

In a world rife with supplements, some consider breast milk just another if not more natural way to build muscle. As my friend said: “I don’t believe in supplements, but what is more natural than a mother’s breast milk?”

An opportunity for entrepreneurial mums

Most of the men who contact me want to drink milk directly from my breast, which I am against

Miriam

Breast milk is classified as a food by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and is not, in theory, illegal to buy or sell. However, there have been few attempts to sell it to the public and its sale banned on Ebay and Craigslist. 

In 2011 the Covent Garden restaurant TheIce Creamists launched an ice-cream made with breastmilk called “Baby Gaga”. It was an instant hit, selling out before lunch on the day after going on sale. However, despite the milk being screened for diseases and pasteurised, Westminster council confiscated the ice-cream over health and safety concerns.

So just how popular is breast milk in the UK? I spoke with Miriam (not her real name), a mother who sells breast milk through OTB. She told me she makes about £100 per week and is quite selective about who she sells to. “I absolutely encourage people to drink it for the health benefits,” she said. Despite the health benefits claimed by breast milk advocates, however, sellers aren’t required to take any medical tests and there is a small chance of breast milk carrying sexually transmitted diseases.

Why is breast milk ice-cream repulsive?

Sarah Ditum

 

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In the milk market more generally, an increasing number of consumers are choosing to ditch dairy as part of a movement towards more plant-based foods, with plant-based milk sales up 155% between 2011 and 2013. Equally, as animal welfare concerns become more prevalent, some are questioning the ethics of large-scale dairy production.

If regulated and sold to the public, Miriam believes it would “help reduce the stigma around breast milk and eventually encourage women to breastfeed in public without fear”. This issue was thrown into the limelight in December when Louise Burns was asked to cover up while feeding her 12-week-old baby in London’s luxury hotel Claridge’s.

Is breast best, or just weird?

While some people swear by it and there have even been reports of people turning to breast milk to ease the effects of chemotherapy, the effects of drinking it aren’t entirely clear.Advocates like my friend believe breast milk is the most natural thing on the planet. However, there is no escaping the darker side of the breast milk black market. As Miriam explained: “Most of the men who contact me want to drink milk directly from my breast, which I am against”. A quick glance at the OTB website reveals men offering £20 to be fed from directly from the breast.

Although there is nothing in the food hygiene regulations specifically prohibiting the sale or supply as food of human breast milk, a spokesperson for FSA said it would advise against anyone buying and consuming human breast milk. “A food business supplying or selling human breast milk would be required to prove the milk had been collected and handled hygienically and the product was free from harmful viruses and bacteria. The FSA’s view is that it would be very difficult for a food business to demonstrate the safety of such a product.”

Baby formula has no place in a sustainable future

Erik Assadourian

 

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Maybe breast milk is just the latest superfood fad targeted at those wanting to get that little bit extra out of their body and mind in a culture where people are always seeking a competitive edge. Or perhaps the rising popularity of drinking breast milk is a symptom of a societal shift away from dairy produced by other species.

Perhaps in 10 years we will see regulated breast milk readily for sale in supermarkets as society becomes more open-minded. It might remain a fringe activity or it could become a regular thing that mothers do to generate extra income during maternity leave.

In the meantime, the “breast milk men” will continue to meet mothers on street corners, in pubs and outside train stations in the search of their next fix.

The food hub is funded by The Irish Food Board. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘brought to you by’. Find out more here.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/02/breast-milk-market-uk-bodybuilding