Baby Drinking Milk
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When buying bodily fluids over the internet, there's a chance you may not be getting exactly what you bargained for.

A new study published in the journal Pediatrics has found that 10 percent of breast milk samples bought online contained some cow's milk.

"We were concerned that, because money is exchanged in these transactions, there might be an incentive to boost milk volumes in order to make more money," said study author Sarah A. Keim, principal investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

"Cow's milk and infant formula resemble human milk and could potentially be added to boost volumes without the recipient knowing."

"Mothers who consider purchasing breast milk over the internet should beware — when you obtain milk from an unfamiliar source, you cannot know for sure that what you are getting is safe for your baby," Keim added.

Not the breast idea

The study team said their results are particularly alarming considering that many parents who seek out breast milk over the internet do so because their infant has health issues related to consuming cow's milk or baby formula.

The study team also noted that recently-published research had found bacterial or viral contamination in over 75 percent of milk samples purchased online. In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration warned that there could be contaminants in unpasteurized human milk obtained from women who were not the mother on an infant.

In the study, researchers compared 102 samples of breast milk obtained from milk-sharing websites with their own preparations of human milk diluted with cow's milk. Comparisons were made via testing for bovine DNA.

While all of the internet samples contained human milk, eleven also included evidence of bovine DNA. Ten of the positive sample had results that indicated more than just accidental contamination.

"Pediatricians who care for infants should be aware that milk advertised as human is available via the Internet, and some of it may not be 100 percent human milk," Keim said. "And patients should be counseled against obtaining milk in this way for their infant."

The medical researcher added that women who have extra milk could donate it to a non-profit milk bank.

"Quality, timely lactation support for moms who want to breastfeed their babies could help avoid the need for many mothers to seek milk online," she said.