Mother's Milk May Help Those with Compromised Immune System

[Guest guest]

[This one is a new one for me. It sounds pretty far-fetched, but

mother's milk certainly does provide some immune protection for

babies. As far as curing cancer, I think that's pretty far out

there.]

Cancer patients rely on breast milk to help relieve symptoms

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | (KRT) Breast milk isn't just for

babies at the Mothers' Milk Bank in San , 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 ine Sakamoto of

the milk bank in San , 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. 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.

" I'd say the same thing I say to all my patients who want to do

alternative things: I don't know how it's tested, " Melisko

said. " Patients are potentially exposing themselves to as many risks

by taking milk from an unknown source than by taking herbs that come

in a bag. "

Yet Margit Hamosh, professor emeritus at town University and an

expert in the biochemistry of human milk, says breast milk contains

compounds " that might definitely help in people who have compromised

immune systems in the same way they might help the newborn. "

Cohen, a Palo Alto, Calif., software consultant with a

doctorate in theoretical physics, says he can live with the lack of

medical evidence. Indeed, he's his own research study. Cohen believes

that the twice-weekly smoothies he makes with breast milk and fruit

have helped put his prostate cancer into remission and allowed him to

avoid more invasive treatment, such as surgery.

" You give this stuff to newborn babies, " Cohen said. " It can't be

toxic. "

After Cohen was diagnosed in 1999, his wife found an article about

the Swedish research on breast milk and cancer cells. A friend who

was lactating donated some milk, and Cohen soon found that his levels

of prostate-specific antigen, a warning sign of cancerous cells,

dropped back to normal. His doctor, a UC-San Francisco urologist, was

skeptical but open to Cohen's self-treatment as long as his blood

work looked fine.

Cohen undergoes blood tests and other screenings religiously, and in

the past 2 ½ years, there have been no signs of cancer, he said. It's

possible, of course, that without the breast milk, Cohen's prostate

cancer might have grown so slowly that his health would not be

compromised; that happens in many cases.

Still, Cohen believes. After all, when he temporarily stopped the

breast milk, his PSA levels went up. " It works, " he says simply.

Patty, an East Bay health educator who asked that her last name not

be used, said breast milk seems to be helping her 15-year-old son,

who this spring was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a serious bowel

disorder that can stunt growth and destroy the liver. Daily doses of

breast milk mixed with chocolate syrup kept her son's symptoms under

control, allowing him to gain weight and tolerate a regular diet, she

said.

Although her son experienced a flare-up of symptoms that landed him

in the hospital after five months on breast milk, Patty still gives

him 8 ounces a day, until their supplies are used up. Her son is now

on anti-inflammatory drugs that control his disease. He can no longer

tolerate chocolate syrup and must hold his nose to get the milk down,

Patty said, but he's in remission. Because of the stigma surrounding

adults drinking breast milk, her son wants to keep it a secret from

his high school friends, she said.

" This is like liquid gold. We have this incredible untapped resource

that we've only looked at for what it can give babies, " Patty

said. " I'd love for more studies to be done on this. There's got to

be something helpful going on. "