Is breast milk the new driving fuel? Meet the Bros. Breastfeeding gym

On the surface, Jameson Ritenour's post-workout routine seems pretty standard. He mixes protein powder and supplements with milk, consumes it and moves on to something else. But there is one important distinction: Ritenour does not drink two percent milk, whole or even almond. He drinks breast milk.

"People thought I was a little crazy," he says. "But every time someone talked about it, I thought," People do that all the time. Professional athletes pay people for their breast milk. "

Ritenour is 33 years old and lives in South Carolina. Occasionally cultural, he started drinking breast milk after his girlfriend gave birth to each of their three children. He added any residue in his protein shake – usually about three to four ounces at a time.

"I felt it was just a supplement and it did not hurt," said the 33-year-old native of South Carolina, adding that he's been an amateur bodybuilder for years and that's it. he cared a lot about his physique. Previously, he used steroids to treat en masse. So why not breast milk?

Ritenour is not the only man to ask the question of breast milk. Some, like Ritenour, regard breast milk as a "liquid gold", a substance that can help them achieve the ideal physique. others, however, drink it for other purposes, often of the erotic type. These men get it from milk-producing partners or online markets, sometimes spending hundreds of dollars.

For some people, breast milk is considered a kind of super supplement. According to Ritenour, colostrum, which refers to milk produced immediately by mammals after birth, is "one of the most anabolic things that is." Reach an anabolic state, where muscle is actively repaired and built, is the graal of bodybuilding – hence the popularity of anabolic steroids.Human colostrum contains a growth hormone believed to help muscle recovery.More importantly, it contains breast milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which are the best gold in "liquid gold".

"I've always been drinking breast milk. I like it, but I've never fully realized its potential as an add-on until I start using it as a cornerstone of my diet, "writes L & # 39; 39 user Lefticle in a thread on bodybuilding.com. On Reddit, the user jabmaster2 writes, "I get mine free of the woman if lol. I feel so anabolic right now. Seriously if breast milk + Oreos = Win. "

Ritenour did not say if he had ever tried this combination of biscuits and milk, but said that breast milk was perhaps the most "exotic" thing he had taken. "No ground rhinoceros horn," he laughs.

J. Bruce German, Professor of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis, has been studying breast milk for over two decades. He says that the nutritional makeup of breast milk changes every day – even every hour – as the baby it is intended for grows. In other words, milk for a newborn baby is completely different from milk for a six-month-old baby, and they are both peculiar to that mother and that baby. On average, however, a cup contains about 170 calories, 10 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbohydrates and only two grams of protein.

So, did it help Ritenour in his quest for a bigger physique?

"I do not know," he admitted. "It was not like it was coming from a strange Craigslist lady or anything," he explained, adding that he "was a bit too proud to drink someone's juice." 39, one of them ".

Other men do not have the same problems. Sites like Eats on Feets, Human Milk 4, and Only the Breast, which provide a surplus of breast milk to mothers unable to produce enough, are also used today by many men. "The use of breast milk for medical purposes by adults is a strong case," wrote Eats on Feets on its FAQ page.

Meanwhile, Only the Breast features a section titled "Willing to Sell to Men," which contains ads of women seeking to sell "liquid gold" as well as men seeking to have it. buy.

"Extra! One out of two healthy mothers producing three times more than my baby needs," reads in a recent advertisement. "The author indicates in the text that she is" willing to sell to men for alternative purposes (like bodybuilding), "another salesman promised that she was" open-minded "and" will be shipping discreetly. "

There are many men ads like "Seeking Fresh Milk" in Atlanta and "Seeking to buy breast milk locally". It is clear from the reading that there are no men seeking breast milk for their children, but men seeking to use it at others purposes. . The average price is $ 1.50 an ounce, although women have brought in thousands of dollars through online sales.

All these men do not drink breast milk to develop their muscles. Some do it for a simpler reason: they like it.

"I started there, as my wife fed me when she fed our second child," said Alex, of Nottingham, UK, who was advertising Only the Breast. "It was a very intimate experience. She did not want with our third though. … As a result, I have developed a taste for breast milk. I like the taste and the fact that it is produced by another human. "

Another lawyer, Martin *, who lives in Atlanta, said he was "primarily interested in the erotic thrill".

"I am constantly looking for adult breastfeeding companions and I often buy breast milk just to sip, even if the woman does not want to breastfeed. I found a couple of women on [Only the Breast] ready to breastfeed. "

It's also one of the reasons Kevin *, 47, drinks in Middletown, NY.

"Sometimes it can also be sexually exciting," he said. "I could be considered a kind of pervert. But I really do not see anything wrong with that. If the woman is willing to sell to me, I am more than happy to take what she is willing to part with. "

Kevin said that he preferred to take the milk in person and that he usually drinks about five ounces a day, when he can get it.

"The most I bought at one point was 60 ounces for two dollars an ounce," he said. "For me, knowing where it comes from is cleaner than drinking cow's milk … it tastes good [sic] well. And I believe that cow's milk has beneficial effects on health. "

A new company called 1MD agrees with him on the health benefits. He created Biome®, which she says is the first nutritional supplement containing HMOs. It is marketed as a kind of super-prebiotic.

"Oligosaccharides from breast milk, the key prebiotic in breast milk, contain antibodies that help fight viruses and bacteria and promote the health of the immune system," said founder Ziv Haklili. "HMOs also have the distinct ability to reach the intact colon where their prebiotic effects promote healthy intestinal colonization while eliminating harmful gut pathogens."

Haklili explained that Biome® "will feature a purely synthetic version" of HMO, "extracted from lactose in cow's milk and then fermented by bacteria."

At the same time, giant chemical companies such as DowDuPont and BASF are investing heavily in increasing their production of synthetic HMOs for adults. DuPont recently estimated that the annual market could reach $ 1 billion.

So, in the future, are we all going to blow up breast milk capsules like it's about calcium supplements?

Who knows? But, with regard to breast milk, many researchers and doctors are not convinced that adults should ingest it.

"Nutritionally, it's anything but a diet that makes sense," the Germans told bodybuilders and adults, explaining that breast milk also contains 7% lactose, twice as much as cow's milk .

"If they're lucky, they have bacteria that turn lactose into good things. if they're out of luck, they're lactose intolerant and the milk makes them uncomfortable, "he laughed.

Being a little uncomfortable has never stopped bodybuilders before. What about the benefits of muscle building? What about the health benefits reported about HMOs in breast milk?

German explained that newborns have essentially no immune system and that during delivery, the mother transfers her immune system to her baby. He says that he understands the logic of "If I want to recover the microbiome of a baby, milk seems to do it". And, he says, "there are more oligosaccharides than proteins in breast milk."

Ka-ching for bodybuilders, right?

False. Unfortunately, HMOs are indigestible.

"The idea that you are going to have [HMOs] Milk is an oblique misunderstanding of how it all works, "said German.Adults can not treat oligosaccharides, he added, they leave the body of the milk drinker in a, um, solid state .

Beyond this troubling situation, breast milk, says German, is raw and dangerous.

"The more you leave the milk in the raw state, the more likely you are to consume milk containing bacteria that could be pathogenic."

Those who buy their milk online also pose a greater risk. A recent study pediatrics evaluated breast milk purchased in the online markets. The researchers found staph in 64% of the samples, streptococcus in 36% and other bacteria in 75%. They also found salmonella in three samples. Streptococcus and staphylococci are sufficient, but a body fluid such as milk can also transmit diseases such as HIV – sites like Only the breast do not test.

"When breast milk comes directly from individuals or the Internet, the donor probably has not been adequately screened for infectious diseases or the risk of contamination," the FDA writes. "In addition, it is unlikely that breast milk has been collected, processed, tested or stored in such a way as to reduce the safety risks to the baby." Or to the adult.

Knowing all this, will Ritenour drink breast milk? He would certainly do it.

"I would certainly continue to drink it and add some if I could," he said. "I would say that for those looking for natural or natural supplements, aside from the stigma of drinking breast milk, I would suggest it." swelling.

As explained, German has its own reasons why this should not be the case. But he also has another reason to dislike the trend.

"The most discouraging is that we do not support breastfeeding mothers," he said. "Society does not give women leave, give them any benefit, just to breastfeed. And now, we steal babies' milk for rich white men. "

* Some names have been changed