BREAST MILK
BODYBUILDERS
Some women are selling breast milk to bodybuilders who believe it will help boost their physiques.
VANCOUVER — The creamy white stuff that bodybuilder is chugging next to you at the gym might not be a protein shake.
Human breast milk purchased online is being touted as the new fad in muscle-building nutrition, and some fitness enthusiasts in B.C. may be putting down their shaker bottles to pick up baby bottles for a preworkout pump.
Jennifer Rowse, a nutritionist based in Langley, has sold her breast milk on Craigslist to two men who wanted it for “gym purposes,” she told the Province.
“It’s a carb, a fat and then lastly a protein; I can fully comprehend why they choose that,” she said.
“I understand protein shakes with amino acids to help rebuild muscle, that makes sense to me, but I guess this would be more of a pre-workout” drink.
Rowse has donated most of her excess milk to the B.C. Women’s Milk Bank since shortly after her son was born 11 months ago, but she also privately donates or charges $2 an ounce for those interested in paying.
She sterilizes her equipment, gets screened regularly when she donates and is happy to share her health records with buyers and those she donates to privately, she said. Her son is healthy and well-fed, she added, and she’s put all $700 from her breast milk sales into a college fund for him.
Rowse said she’s privately donated to a young mother who recently underwent a mastectomy, but declined to sell to one man who offered her $1,000 for 20 minutes of wet-nursing.
Ali Najafian, a World Classic Bodybuilding Champion, said he knows people who’ve used and traded breast milk at gyms around Vancouver.
Najafian warned against buying it from an unregulated source but said he considers it a good source of nutrition for bodybuilders.
Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, a medical health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, strongly advises against the purchase of breast milk from unregulated sources.
Health Canada strongly warns against obtaining donor human milk directly from individuals or online.