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Human breast milk online trade poses risk to consumers' health

Xinhua, June 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Raw human milk purchased online or in an unpasteurized state could pose risks to consumers' health, researchers from Queen Mary University of London have said.

According to a new research released on the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine on Thursday, researchers found that there is a lucrative online market for adult buyers of human breast milk in Britain.

It said Internet sites and forums touted human breast milk as a "super food" and being purported to "lead to 'gains' in the gym, to help with erectile dysfunction, to be more digestible and to contain positive immune building properties."

But researchers said there's no clinical evidence to back up those claims, and in fact, raw human milk purchased online or in an unpasteurized state could pose many risks.

"Nutritionally there is less protein in breast milk than other milks like cow's milk. Potential buyers should be made aware that there is no scientific evidence that adult consumption of human milk for medicinal properties offers anything more than a placebo effect," said Dr Sarah Steele, lead researcher from Queen Mary University of London.

"Moreover, human breast milk is potentially very hazardous if used to replace a healthy balanced diet," she added.

It stressed that failure of women to sanitize properly when expressing milk, failure to sterilize equipment properly and the improper or prolonged storage and transportation of milk could expose consumers to bacterial food-borne illnesses and may introduce toxins into the milk.

In addition, lack of pasteurization and tests would exposed the buyers to infectious diseases, such as hepatitis, HIV and syphilis.

Researchers suggested that online purchase of breast milk is not optional for adult nutrition or in the treatment of disease.

They called for health professionals and regulators to be aware of this growing trend and issue public guidance against the purchasing of human milk from Internet sources for adult as well as infant feeding. Endit