Kourtney Kardashian Just Drank Her Own Breast Milk While Feeling Sick
Kourtney Kardashian is a mom of four, and she regularly shares snippets of her BTS life with her kids. But the Poosh founder just casually dropped something into her Instagram Story that’s raising some eyebrows.
It’s a selfie that features the 44-year-old The Kardashians star giving the camera the thumbs up. Over top she wrote, “I just pounded a glass of breast milk because I feel sick” next to a blowing nose emoji.
Kourtney, who welcomed son Rocky with her husband Travis Barker in November, hasn’t shared an update on how she’s feeling.
But if you happened to see her story, you probably have questions. Here’s the deal.
Meet the experts: Amesh A. Adalja, MD is senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Thomas Russo, MD, professor and expert in infectious diseases at the University of Buffalo in N.Y. Thomas Russo, MD, is a professor and expert in infectious diseases at the University of Buffalo in N.Y.
Why would an adult drink breast milk?
Breast milk is naturally designed to help feed babies, but it also can help support a little one’s health in the early stages of life, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
“Human breastmilk is known to contain many different substances that are stimulatory to the immune system of a [newborn],” says Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “This also includes antibodies.”
Breast milk also contains lactoferrin and interleukin-6, -8 and -10, proteins that help moderate the inflammatory response that happens when your immune system comes into contact with a threat, like a bacteria or virus, the AAP explains.
Since antibodies help you to find fight infections, it makes sense in theory that drinking breast milk might help give you a power boost when you’re feeling wiped out.
Can drinking breast milk boost your immunity?
The verdict is out on this one. There’s some evidence that consuming your own breast milk could help lower your risk of getting infections and stave off mild illnesses. But this hasn’t been studied in placebo-controlled, double-blind, peer-reviewed research, which is considered the gold standard for science.
Research has found that using breast milk topically, like rubbing it into your skin, may help ease symptoms of eczema and dermatitis, but that doesn’t seem to be what Kourtney was talking about. Breast milk is also largely made up of water, and staying well hydrated is important when you're sick, too.
Still, there’s really not a lot of data to support using breast milk to keep adults sickness-free. Ultimately, “it is unclear what benefit these [breast milk] substances may have on an adult with a mature immune system,” Adalja says.
"If a mom who is nursing drinks her own breast milk, the benefit is going to be anywhere from limited to negligible because she already has those antibodies," says Thomas Russo, MD, professor and expert in infectious diseases at the University of Buffalo in N.Y. "I really don't think this is beneficial for mom."
Is it safe for adults to drink breastmilk?
If you’re drinking your own breast milk, there’s probably no health risks to you, other than feeling squeamish. But it’s important to point out that breast milk is a bodily fluid, which means you really shouldn’t be drinking breast milk you get from someone else.
Why? It can contain bacteria, for starters, and there’s also a risk of passing on infectious diseases like cytomegalovirus, HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis. "If you drink someone else's breast milk, you might get some antibodies—but you can get communicable diseases," Russo says.
Basically, if you want to drink your own milk—and you have the stomach for it—more power to you. But take a pass on downing breast milk from someone else, just to be safe.
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