Mothers’ Milk May Hold Promise For Ill Adults

Breast milk isn’t just for babies at the Mothers’ Milk Bank in San Jose, which quietly offers it to adults with cancer and other serious illnesses to ease their symptoms.The milk bank is one of just six in the United States. It distributes donated breast milk primarily to premature and low-birth-weight babies. However, it also will provide breast milk to adults with a doctor’s prescription.Adult use of breast milk is rare, according to Pauline Sakamoto of the milk bank in San Jose, which has served 28 adult patients in the past four years. Adults with cancer, digestive disorders and immune disorders may drink several ounces of milk daily or weekly to ease the ravages of chemotherapy, bolster their immune systems and improve their digestion, she said.No national figures exist for adult use of breast milk, but an informal survey of the nation’s milk banks suggest that they currently serve dozens of adult patients.Breast milk’s benefits for babies have been well documented, with research showing that it helps fight infection, improves immune system function, increases intelligence and combats obesity in later life.But can it help sick grown-ups? No one knows because so little research has been done.In 1995 Swedish researchers isolated a protein in mothers’ milk that seemed to kill cancer cells in a test tube. And they are still working on developing a drug that takes advantage of that protein. In 2004 the same research team found another compound that destroys many kinds of skin warts, raising expectations that the compound could help treat cervical cancer and other diseases caused by the human papilloma virus.Still, most doctors are skeptical about the value of breast milk for adults, and mainstream medicine seems to consider it to be on the fringe.Although Dr. Michelle Melisko, an oncologist at the University of California-San Francisco, acknowledges that mothers’ milk probably won’t hurt her patients, she worries about quality control -- some viral particles can be passed through breast milk -- and said she would advise them against using it.

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