Does Breast Milk Benefit Cancer or Athletic Performance?

Is it true that breast milk improves athletic performance or cures cancer in adults, or are these merely strange news stories?

For babies, breast milk is the best food and almost vital, because it contains all the benefits a baby needs to grow and develop.

Breast milk contains a perfect blend of vitamins, fat and protein. It may even protect against conditions such as diarrhea, which may seem minor to adults but can endanger babies' lives. It is the second-leading cause of death in children under 5.

Some adults wonder whether breast milk could benefit anyone other than babies. Ideas include improving athletes' performance or treating cancer.

The breast milk black market

There is substantial demand for breast milk worldwide. People trade it, buying and selling online, in a strange kind of breast milk black market.

Much demand comes from mothers unable to breastfeed, but some comes from adult men and women.

Ultimately, breast milk is a human bodily fluid. Most sensible people generally prefer to keep as far away as possible from other people's fluids, including blood.

We avoid them because human fluids can transmit diseases. Hepatitis, gastroenteritis (intestinal infections) and some sexually transmitted diseases may spread this way.

Although breast milk may seem more positive and cleaner than other bodily fluids, it is not free of disease transmission risk.

Why, then, are adults on earth seeking a chance to drink it in secret Facebook groups?

Human milk and protein drinks

Some athletes believe breast milk is a magic potion that can boost performance.

We know how much gym members love protein, and breast milk has a similar share in this interest.

But does breast milk really provide a special benefit you need?

Professor Jill Sheriff of Curtin University is an expert in nutritional biochemistry. Her main research areas are breast milk and nutrition for premature babies. Jill says breast milk contains the right nutrients for infants but offers adults no nutritional benefits "that cannot be obtained from other food sources."

Moreover, breast milk is intended for small stomachs, and many of its immune benefits may be lost in the adult gut environment.

Could breast milk be a medicine for cancer?

The desperation felt by patients and relatives during cancer treatment is understandable. You may try something—even breast milk—if you think it could produce a better outcome for yourself or a loved one.

For years, you may have encountered a story about Jenny Jones, who began drinking breast milk after a cancer diagnosis. A lactation consultant, Jenny thought it might help cancer treatment after seeing its benefits in breastfed babies.

Bone marrow transplantation was when she began drinking milk rejected by milk banks to boost her immunity. Jenny also received chemotherapy . She underwent both bone marrow transplantation and chemotherapy, but believed she owed her recovery to breast milk.

Was there scientific support for her story, or was it merely offering false hope?

Swedish researcher Professor Catharina Svanborg is investigating breast milk's effects in cancer treatment, focusing on human alpha-lactalbumin that attacks tumor cells. Also known as LALBA, "lactalbumin alpha-" is a protein encoded in humans by the LALBA gene. α-Lactalbumin regulates lactose production in the milk of almost all mammal species. It binds strongly to calcium and zinc ions and may have antibacterial or antitumor activity. HAMLET protein is the name given to a "human alpha-lactalbumin folding variant" that can form in acidic environments such as the stomach; in laboratory settings, it has been observed to cause, in tumor and immature cells, apoptosis (HAMLET stands for Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEThal to tumor cells).

HAMLET protein suddenly became popular after some promising results in human clinical studies. A single study reported dead cancer cells in urine after HAMLET was given to bladder cancer patients. Interestingly, this study was not confirmed in larger studies, and other clinical trials using HAMLET in cancer currently seem either unfinished or no longer ongoing. In short, it is difficult to speak promisingly about this breast milk protein's anticancer properties.

These negative findings have, of course, not deterred those trying to market breast milk treatment.

Even if HAMLET became a new cancer treatment, however, patients could not obtain the same effect by drinking breast milk bought online from a stranger. To turn alpha-lactalbumin into HAMLET, the protein must fold in a specific way. More laboratory and clinical studies are therefore needed to establish efficacy.

Think of the children

Is there a reason for an adult to drink breast milk?

We will probably never know for certain. Breast milk for adults is not a sufficiently researched area. We still know breast milk is very beneficial for babies, and there is not an abundance available for them.

A mother's breast milk comes first for her baby. Even if there is excess and she wants to donate it to a milk bank, premature babies have priority, because some mothers have no milk. Adults would therefore be at the bottom of the list.

Because breast milk is so important for babies, providing it to adults is not a priority for milk banks or researchers.

Jill says, “Even if it is beneficial, can we drink human milk? There are far more important questions to investigate,” and does not believe research in this field guarantees worthwhile findings. Moreover, because early clinical study results were negative—although this evidence has not prevented its "marketing"—new, larger clinical studies of breast milk in cancer have not been undertaken.

At this point, let us act like adults and leave breast milk to babies.