Breast milk is not just for kids, adults can have it too

We live in a weird world and what we are revealing in this very read might make your jaw drop! Do you remember that episode of famous sit-com FRIENDS, where Pheobe and Joey try breast milk? Well, if you are a FRIENDS fan, you must know about this episode. If you’re someone who catches up on Bollywood chit-chat, you may have come across Tahira Kashyap Khurrana’s revelation in her book that her husband Ayushmaan Khurrana once drank her breast milk.

Now the question is – can adults really drink breast milk? Does it really have any benefits for them? To your surprise, breast milk is an atom bomb of nutrition and even adults can try it out for nutrition.

In fact, it is said that if you are an athlete or a professional bodybuilder, breast milk can be your elixir.

According to Dr Yuvraj Jadeja, gynaecologist and infertility specialist and director at Nimaaya Women’s Health, Vadodara, breast milk has emerged as a new ‘superfood’ amongst adults. While there are no doubts about the benefits of breast milk in infants, its benefits in adults have yet to be substantially proven.
He says, “The immunoglobulin, probiotic, antibiotic, and prebiotic effect of breast milk does make it a lucrative nutritional option. You will be shocked to know that the UK has breast milk ice creams and in the US, they sell breast milk lollipops.”

Here’s why breast milk is a great source of nutrition for adults

Undeniably, breast milk has everything that the human body requires. The logic is very simple – the babies are at their development stage and breast milk is the only food they eat, hence it has to be power-packed.

Online forums are replete with anecdotal instances of breast milk, boasting about its health benefits in terms of improving immunity, nutritional status, muscle building, erectile dysfunction, etc. But peer-reviewed research is extremely limited and lacking. A lot of internet sites and forums have started catering to those wishing to buy breast milk.

Some unknown benefits of breast milk:

As it is in its purest form, hence it is highly immunity boosting
It is way easy to digest and because it has more enzymes than regular milk, hence it keeps your gut health in check as well

Also, if you do not eat fish but want the benefits of omega-3, breast milk can fill you in

Is there a flip side to drinking breast milk?

“There is no harm per se in drinking human breast milk which is from a safe source and pasteurized. While I would still be open to consumption of human breast milk formulations such as tablets and powdered supplements, even from one’s own partner, buying breast milk from unknown individuals comes with its own risk. Remember that at the end of the day, it is a bodily fluid, and you do not want to be at risk of infection such as CMV, HepB, HIV, Syphilis, etc.

“Unpasteurized milk can also put you at a risk of bacterial infection also. Research into breast milk identified the presence of detectable bacteria in 93 percent of samples with gram-negative bacteria being 74 percent. So, ladies, you can have your own breast milk if you are lactating, but getting it from outside, that too from an unregistered place can make things worse,” suggests Dr Jadeja.

So be it you or your partner, relishing on breast milk is no big deal and you can totally give it a shot.