--- title: Don't Believe the Breast Milk Hype, Researchers Say description: Bodybuilders, fetishists and cancer patients refer to breast milk as 'liquid gold' canonical: https://time.com/3925846/liquid-gold-health-breast-milk/ author: Joanna Plucinska article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-18T06:13:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:18:44.375Z article:section: Health og:title: Health Warning Over Consuming Breast Milk Bought Online og:description: Bodybuilders, fetishists and cancer patients refer to the milk as 'liquid gold' og:url: https://time.com/3925846/liquid-gold-health-breast-milk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Health Warning Over Consuming Breast Milk Bought Online twitter:description: Bodybuilders, fetishists and cancer patients refer to the milk as 'liquid gold' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Health Warning Issued Over Consuming Breast Milk Bought Online > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=6f2c94db-5d45-4d80-ad9b-dd87ec1d8965&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jun 18, 2015 6:13 AM UTC by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jun 18, 2015 6:13 AM UTC Drinking breast milk purchased via the Internet may mean consuming dangerous bacteria and could cause serious illness, health experts warn. Online communities selling breast milk were initially started for mothers who had trouble producing enough of their own, the [BBC r](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33135103)eports. But now bodybuilders, fetishists and even cancer patients are joining these virtual marketplaces in the hopes of reaping the benefits of what fans sometimes refer to as “liquid gold.” However, a team of researchers at The Queen Mary University of London is warning about health risks including HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and C as there’s no regulation of breast milk, which typically comes unpasteurized. Dr. Sarah Steele, who works at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, told the BBC that the milk can be particularly harmful to cancer patients whose immune systems are already compromised. “You’re exposing yourself to bacteria and viruses that could complicate the medical condition in a dangerous way,” she told the BBC. Representatives of one of the marketplaces, [onlythebreast.com](http://www.onlythebreast.com/), told the BBC that they advised all of their users to pasteurize the milk before selling it. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33135103)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3925846/liquid-gold-health-breast-milk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3925846/liquid-gold-health-breast-milk/"},"headline":"Health Warning Issued Over Consuming Breast Milk Bought Online","datePublished":"2015-06-18T06:13:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:18:44.375Z","description":"Bodybuilders, fetishists and cancer patients sometimes refer to the milk as \"liquid gold\"","url":"https://time.com/3925846/liquid-gold-health-breast-milk/","keywords":["Health Fad"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/health-fad/","name":"Health Fad"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3925846/liquid-gold-health-breast-milk/","name":"Health Warning Issued Over Consuming Breast Milk Bought Online"}}]}] ```