The headline read, “Breast Milk Can Be Risky” so I decided to read the article even though I don’t usually read what this author writes about. I’ve heard so much about how great breastfeeding is and all the vital nutrients that breast milk provides. How could there be risk involved?

As it turns out the article by Dr. Oz wasn’t about giving breast milk to infants, it was about giving breast milk to bodybuilders! Apparently breast milk is “bodybuilders’ latest body bulking craze.”

But even if it sounds odd that bodybuilders would consume breast milk to build up their muscles how can that be risky?  The risk comes in the fact that the folks who are providing the breast milk aren’t taking the necessary safety precautions. The journal Pediatrics reports that 74 percent of the samples obtained from a milk-sharing website were contaminated with staph bacteria and other infectious microbes.

I wasn’t able to find the article in Pediatrics that Dr. Oz references but an online search of the words “bodybuilders breast milk” yielded several articles about this latest fad. And no doubt there are unscrupulous suppliers out there who will put money over safety. Some are even asking if it is time for the government to get involved to regulate this growing industry.