Most of us find it normal to consume cow, goat and even donkey milk, but there’s something undeniably creepy about adults drinking human breast milk. Yet, it’s the latest fad among bodybuilders convinced it will help them gain muscle faster.
Credit: Men's Health
It’s unbelievable how many fitness fanatics out there believe that drinking human milk is the ultimate way to gaining muscle mass and are willing to go to any lengths to buy as much of it as they can. A simple Google search reveals dozens of online forums and articles this growing trend, and one thread on bodybuilding.com actually hails breast milk as the ‘greatest supplement ever’.
Unsurprisingly, the high demand is happily met by young mothers willing to sell their surplus milk. Some of them go through online breast milk banks that pay them up to $1,200 a month. Most banks exist to make sure babies have access to breast milk, but some websites, like Onlythebreast.com, have a separate section for ‘men buying breast milk’.
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Other women prefer to sell directly, like a Michigan woman named Lisa who offers her breast milk on Craigslist at a negotiable price. “I have a 5 month old and have been constantly pumping excess breast milk which I have been storing and my deep freezer is nearly overloaded. I do not drink, or do drugs, and I take a multivitamin daily,” her ad reads.
Lisa said that she got the idea after her bodybuilder cousin told her how many athletes are into the stuff. “I didn’t want it to go to waste,” she said. “I was talking to my cousin and he says sometimes putting breast milk in a protein shake is better than the protein shake itself.”
“It tastes like regular milk, except sweet,” she added. “Like you dumped sugar into regular milk and that’s what it tastes like.”
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Most women who sell their milk say that men who buy the stuff prefer to remain anonymous. “They usually first ask if there’s any more milk available,” said breast milk seller Jennifer Rose. “I just find that very secretive. Even when they call me their numbers are blocked. They just don’t want to be seen or known.”
Supporters of the trend argue that breast milk contains the greatest supply of human growth hormones and believe that the nutrients that help babies grow will also work for adults. Others believe the milk will help cure other health problems such as psoriasis, while the creepiest of them all use it to make breast milk yogurt!
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But it turns out that not all bodybuilders are buying into the whole breast milk theory. “You hear everything: testosterone, gorilla hormones,” said crossfitter Austin Mariglia. “People are willing to go overboard on just trying to be bigger and be better. I would never in my wildest dreams think somebody would be drinking breast milk for performance.”
While it is true that breast milk has unparalleled nutritional benefits for human babies, experts say that there is no evidence to suggest advantages for adults. “Human breast milk is designed for human infants,” said Joanne Ransom, Clinical Director of the Northwest Mothers Milk Bank. She also cautioned against buying breast milk over the internet, because it might carry infectious diseases such as HIV. Because online sales are not regulated by government agencies, it is actually illegal to sell breast milk online in the U.S.