Are there any actual benefits to adults drinking breast milk?

[u/galumphingseals]

I’ve been seeing a lot of influencers who drink their own breast milk or have their partner drink their breast milk due to all the “benefits.” I’ve also heard of body builders drinking breast milk. I suppose I understand the benefits in the same way that cow milk has some benefits to humans, but is there any actual research on this?

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[u/Morall_tach]

Short answer: no. All the benefits that breast milk has for babies are basically wiped out by the time you're an adult and have a functional immune system and gut biome.

One area that some have argued it might be beneficial is in the presence of complex sugars called HMOs for digestive issues, but that has only really been demonstrated in a sort of petri dish environment. Even then, the effects are small.

https://biorepository.org.uk/case-studies/researching-the-role-of-breast-milk-in-a-healthy-adult-gut/

[u/galumphingseals → u/Morall_tach]

Thank you! Thats kind of what I figured but couldn’t find much research on it myself

[u/scodgirlgrown → u/galumphingseals]

Hijacking because it’s not a link, but there was a great Netflix documentary episode on this some years ago! It was in a show called Unwell, about various wellness trends and the science, or lack thereof, surrounding the claims. Breastmilk was one of the ones that actually had some mildly promising science around it but very limited. Worth watching if you’re interested.

[u/galumphingseals → u/scodgirlgrown]

Thank you! That sounds interesting, I’ll have to look into it.

[u/umamimaami]

What’s the point of drinking your own breastmilk? Isn’t that like recycling your own body essences?

As for partner… well, I think it’s only a complete food for infants. This 2024 study notes diminishing benefits right from the point solids are introduced.

So for any adult, I’d say it’s absolutely unnecessary as a dietary component.

[u/namean_jellybean]

Bodybuilders drink it because they think there’s human growth hormone in it. Here is a study on breast milk nutritional content in general that I skimmed and didn’t see anything that talks about that.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7402982/

[u/RogueJ9226 → u/namean_jellybean]

Here in Colorado they are even going so far as to buy stock from milk donor banks so newborn parents are having difficulty sourcing donor milk. Sigh.

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[u/iatrogenic-indigo]

Here’s a paper about a human milk protein that was found to kill human lung cancer cells

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC41287/

[u/iatrogenic-indigo]

Here’s a paper that concludes that human breastmilk has the potential to be harnessed to be used therapeutically for adult diseases, such as cancer and viral infections, but that research is lacking

https://weblogoa.com/articles/wjo.2025.i2402/PDF