# Could an adult survive on nothing but water and human breast milk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707 "2014-07-22T01:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/1 "2014-07-22T01:23:49Z")
Pretty much what the title says. Assume you can have any number of “wet nurses.” Would a healthy adult be able to subsist for an indefinite period of time? Assuming the answer is “yes,” how many lactating women would you need to supply the nutritional needs of an average size (150 lb.) adult? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/2 "2014-07-22T01:39:12Z")
Can I keep my Lactaids? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/3 "2014-07-22T01:41:44Z")
Well, you would probably get terrible constipation, and you would be in big trouble if you were lactose intolerant, of course. I suspect it might be pretty fattening too: human milk, even as compared to cow milk, has a high sugar to protein ratio. There might be other issues, but I can’t think of any other obvious crucial ones. If you could get by on the milk, however, I very much doubt that you would need additional water. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/4 "2014-07-22T02:43:48Z")
Make sure your wet nurses don’t have HIV–it is transmitted by breast milk. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/5 "2014-07-22T03:03:48Z")
Say an average size guy needs 2500 calories/day. According to this [site](http://www.parentingscience.com/calories-in-breast-milk.html), breast milk contains 70 calories/100ml or 700 calories/liter. This [site](https://breastfeedingusa.org/content/article/magic-number-and-long-term-milk-production) claims that an average woman produce 25 to 35 oz (750 to 1050 ml/day). Let’s call it 900ml/day. 2500 cal \*(1 liter/ 700 calories) = 3.57 liters / 0.9 liters 3.57 liters / 0.9 liters = 3.96 or 4 Wet Nurses! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/6 "2014-07-22T03:24:45Z")
Are there any vitamins and minerals that aren’t passed into breast milk? What about Iron or vitamin C? If the wet nurse takes that will it get passed onto the consumer? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/7 "2014-07-22T03:28:08Z")
As the guy at the end of Steinbeck’s _The Grapes of Wrath_. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/8 "2014-07-22T07:31:19Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Are there any vitamins and minerals that aren’t passed into breast milk? What about Iron or vitamin C? If the wet nurse takes that will it get passed onto the consumer? Milk is low in iron, Vitamin D and zinc. Babies have stores of iron (and I assume zinc, although no one mentions that) that last them about 6 months, at which point other foods should be introduced to the baby’s diet in addition to breast milk. Or just let the baby eat some dirt, as is their natural inclination. Cow’s milk, BTW, is even lower in iron than human milk. An adult subsisting on just breast milk would get anemic in a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-adult-survive-on-nothing-but-water-and-human-breast-milk/693707/9 "2014-07-22T09:08:48Z")
There’s the story of Pero, a woman, who breastfeeds her father, Cimon.