A growing craze of buying human breast milk could put those who drink it at risk of being infected with hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis. 
 
 Some fitness communities, fetishists and chronic disease sufferers believe it is a kind of super food that can boost health and fitness and ward off disease. 
 
 The milk is now being sold via websites in a lucrative market for adult buyers. 
 
 However experts are now saying drinking human breast milk could pose serious health risks. 
 
 Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Sarah Steele, a specialist at the global health and policy unit at Queen Mary University of London, said: "Potential buyers should be made aware that no scientific study evidences that direct adult consumption of human milk for medicinal properties offers anything more than a placebo effect." 
 
 She added that failure of women to sanitise properly when producing milk, failure to sterilise equipment properly, and improper or prolonged storage and transportation of milk can also expose consumers to bacterial food-borne illnesses. 
 
 "While many online mums claim they have been tested for viruses during pregnancy, many do not realise that (such) screening needs to be undertaken regularly. 
 
 "Sexual and other activities ... may expose the women to viruses that they may unwittingly pass on to consumers." 

 The article from the journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, entitled 'More than a lucrative liquid: the risks for adult consumers of human break milk bought from the online market', is written by Dr Sarah Steele, a lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. 
 
 Websites like OnlyTheBreast connect hundreds of mothers with people who want to buy their milk. It warns would-be breast milk drinkers of the dangers of consuming human breast milk ordered over the internet. Dr Steele writes that the lack of pasteurisation and testing not only exposes consumers to bacteria, but could also bring them into contact with dangerous diseases. 
 
 Consuming human breast milk is something of a niche craze at the moment, and is gaining in popularity amongst bodybuilders, foodies, and even cancer sufferers, mostly due to the erroneous belief that it is a protein-rich 'superfood', an all-natural alternative to processed, 'man made' health products. 
 
 In fact, human milk contains less protein than cow's milk, there's no scientific study that shows adult consumption of it leads to health benefits, and it could be contaminated, impure, or downright dangerous to consume. 
 
 Far from being pure and natural, Dr Steele writes that breast milk can easily become contaminated with potentially harmful products that the producer has consumed. 
 
 "Alcohol, drugs (both prescription and illicit), tobacco and caffeine pass into the milk alongside other environmental contaminants, meaning chemicals and toxins that those seeking 'to eat clean' are themselves shunning." 
 
 Even if the producer is organic, free-range and hand-reared, there's potentially more danger: as milk is often sold by the ounce, some mothers choose to bulk out their milk with cow's milk, soy milk, or water. And if they are selling to a number of people, they may be storing their milk in bottles containing Bisphenol A - a chemical linked to health problems that is banned from use in infant bottles in the EU. 
 
 The Icecreamists ice cream shop in London sells 'Baby Gaga' - an ice cream made with human breast milk. Most worrying, however, is the potential to transmit disease. Dr Steele writes that while many breast milk sellers say they have been tested for viruses during pregnancy, they fail to realise that screening needs to happen regularly, in case of a false negative result. 
 
 She adds that sexual activities after the birth may expose women to viruses that can be passed on through breast milk — viruses such as hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis, that sellers could "unwittingly pass on to consumers of the milk." 
 
 Breast milk is easy to buy online, and there's plenty of websites catering to those who wish to buy it, whether they be mothers, bodybuilders or even fetishists. 
 
 Read more: 10 per cent of online breast milk is cow's milk 
 
 Missing runner survives by drinking her own breast milk 
 
 One advert, posted by a woman in Manchester, offers four ounces of breast milk for £20. That's around 120 millilitres of milk, or around a fifth of a pint. 
 
 The editorial concludes by saying that breast milk purchased online is "not optimal for adult nutrition or in the treatment of disease", and adds that it "poses more risks than proven benefits."
– Some fitness buffs, fetishists, and people with chronic illnesses believe human breast milk—apparently now a profitable, growing market—is a superfood of sorts, Sky News notes. And then there are the science experts who say that drinking the lactated liquid could infect imbibers with hepatitis (B and C), HIV, and syphilis, the news operation adds. A study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine warns that consumers who buy breast milk online not only have to worry about unpasteurized, untested milk that could breed bacteria, but also that they could be putting themselves at risk for catching contagious diseases, per the Independent. Study author Sarah Steele warns that these potentially dangerous viruses—either contracted before a lactating mother gives birth or even from her sexual activity afterward—"could unwittingly" be transmitted to consumers. Women pumping for profit may not use sterilized equipment or sanitize correctly, Steele writes, and the milk might not be stored or transported properly, per Sky. And the supposedly protein-rich drink (which Steele contends actually has less protein than cow's milk) increasingly craved by athletes such as bodybuilders can be chock-full of other contaminants as well: "Alcohol, drugs (both prescription and illicit), tobacco, and caffeine pass into the milk alongside other environmental contaminants, meaning chemicals and toxins … that those seeking 'to eat clean' are themselves shunning," she writes. If all this fails to convince, Steele notes there's been nothing proving the benefits, stating that "no scientific study evidences that direct adult consumption of human milk for medicinal properties offers anything more than a placebo effect." (There is breast milk jewelry, though, if you're interested.)