Rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, breast milk is designed to nourish your baby and simultaneously boost their immune system.
But would that be enough to sway you to try some yourself?
Somewhat bizarrely, celebrities are attempting to reap the same immune-boosting health benefits from drinking their own breast milk.
No stranger to an unusual health trend, Kourtney Kardashian this week admitted to downing a glass because she felt ‘sick’.
The 44-year-old — Kim’s older sister — sparked bewilderment among her millions of fans with her post, accompanied with a selfie of her lying in bed. Kourtney had been breastfeeding her son Rocky Thirteen, five months.
Kourtney Kardashian has sparked bewilderment among her fans by admitting she downed entire glass of her own breast milk
The star previously shared a snap of herself pumping breast milk in a plunging black dress, after welcoming her son Rocky with husband Travis Barker last year
She wrote on Instagram: ‘This filter is crazy and I just pounded a glass of breast milk because I feel sick. Goodnight.’
Kourtney, married to Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, promotes supplements to fuel the production of healthy breast milk. On top of that, she previously shared a snap of herself pumping breast milk in sexy black lingerie after welcoming her son last year.
But she is not the first big name to try drinking breast milk. Brody Jenner admitted to using his fiancée Tia Blanco’s supply it in his morning coffee.
The Hills alum said the unconventional creamer was ‘delicious’ in a YouTube video, revealing that he’d run out of almond milk.
Meanwhile, in 2014, Jennifer Aniston admitted on Jimmy Kimmel live that she had tried breast milk.
In October, UK reality star Ferne McCann also surprised Steph’s Packed Lunch viewers when she appeared on the show to talk about her six-month-old daughter Finty and revealed she’d also tried her own breast milk.
Ferne, who is also a doting mum to daughter Sunday, six — who she shares with her ex Arthur Collins — said her breast milk was like ‘liquid gold’.
The 44-year-old and her husband Travis Barker announced at the beginning of November that she had given birth to their son Rocky Thirteen
Kourtney Kardashian is not the only celeb attempting to reap immune boosting health benefits from breast milk
She also revealed she was told by nurses to use it as a first aid remedy. ‘Finty, when she was born, had a little bit of weeping eye, and the community midwives are like, “Put a little bit of breast milk on”,’ the model explained.
‘If Lorri had a blister I would suggest squeezing a little bit onto the blister, it would be healed in moments.’
Breast milk is 88 per cent water but the remaining 12 per cent provides everything a baby needs to grow like carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and minerals.
The NHS says on its advice page that ‘any amount is beneficial’, reducing the risk of babies getting some infections.
Additionally, it states that the tailor-made liquid can slash the slash of sudden infant death syndrome, childhood diabetes and leukaemia.
Although it’s not designed for adults to drink, there is some scientific research into its potential benefits.
Similar to how it works in babies, a team of Irish researchers said it was worth exploring whether drinking breast milk could help fight off infections and mild illnesses.
One 2019 review, published in the journal Nutrients, suggested breast milk could be used help reduce skin conditions such as eczema and dermatitis.
Although it is considered strange by many, experts say there is ‘no risk whatsoever’ if an adult consumes their own breast milk. The same logic applies for milk of someone they trust.
She is one of many stars who have followed the bizarre health trend, with Ferne McCann also admitting she’s tried her own breast milk
Ferne McCann revealed she was told by nurses to use breast milk as a first aid remedy
‘When Kourtney Kardashian drank her own milk to relieve her nausea she certainly wasn’t going to do herself any harm, and probably did herself some good,’ claims Sarah Oakley an independent nurse and health visitor specialising in lactation.
Ms Oakley, based in Cambridgeshire, believes if human milk is nutritious enough to support the growth of a baby, it’s also nutritious enough for children and adults.
She said: ‘Nobody questions the nutritional value of cows milk, or goats milk or indeed plant based milks, so I cannot understand why we constantly question the value of human milk which has evolved over millions of years to provide the best and most complete nutrition for babies.’
She even says it is ‘completely biologically normal’ to breastfeed until aged 7, which she admits is often seen as ‘weird’.
Continued breastfeeding for one or two years is also endorsed by WHO.
‘Human milk contains antibodies which protect the baby or child from infection which is crucial in the early years as the immune system isn’t fully developed until age seven,’ Ms Oakley said.
However, she does warn that you need to make sure the milk is free from diseases or drugs and has been properly stored.
Brody Jenner also admitted last year that he used some of his fiancée’s breast milk in his morning coffee, after running out of almond milk
While perfect for babies, the consumption by adults can be risky — especially when purchasing it from strangers.
It can even carry infectious diseases like hepatitis B, HIV and syphilis.
NHS milk banks that take donations from mums and mums-to-be have women take health tests to ensure they don’t carry any of these diseases and inadvertently pass them to babies.
The same is true for drugs and prescription medications, some of which can be passed into breastmilk.
NHS milk banks also pasteurise the liquid, heating it to kill any bacteria, and test it to ensure it is safe for babies to consume.
Ms Oakley said: ‘If an adult consumes their own milk there is no risk whatsoever.
‘If anyone, at whatever age, be they a baby or a pensioner, drinks milk from another human then there is a risk of disease transmission which is why breastmilk donated to milk banks for sick and premature babies (for whom donor milk is often life saving) is screened and pasteurised.
‘Of course, unpasteurised cows milk can transmit disease too which is why we pasteurise it for human consumption.
‘So, anyone drinking milk from another human needs to consider the source (is the donor healthy) and may want to pasteurise the milk which can be done at home.’
Breast milk has also attracted an online reputation as a bodybuilding superfood, under the disputed logic that if it helps babies put on mass quickly, then the same should be true for people.
Others have even said it has helped keep them cancer-free, a health claim with very little evidence.
The NHS says that any amount of breastfeeding is beneficial, but ‘exclusively’ feeing your baby breast milk for their first six months of life offers ‘a lot more protection’
However, experts have dismissed the idea of breast milk as being a superfood for athletes.
Breast milk is low in protein, high in fat, and contains high amounts of lactose which many people can’t digest — making it a poor supplement for bodybuilding.
One expert even said ‘there’s nothing specific in it that will cause adults to gain muscle’.
The cancer claims are based on some preliminary studies suggesting that a type of protein in breast milk may be able to kill some cancer cells.
Not all breast milk contains the same nutritional values.
In fact, the composition of breast milk varies according to a 2016 report, which shows there are changes between feeds across the day and between different women, which is dependent on how the baby is growing and developing.
First breast milk, known medically colostrum, is rich in compounds that boost the immune system then as then across the next few weeks the milk develops to contain more nutrients, according to Sarah Steele, a researcher at the University of Cambridge.
In The Conversation she explains mature milk provides about 70 calories per 100g, which consists of about 4g of fat, 7g of carbohydrate and 1g of protein.
