Emily Oster

2 min Read Emily Oster

Emily Oster

Why Isn’t There Synthetically-Produced Breast Milk?

Q&A on impossible milks

Emily Oster

2 min Read

With all of modern science and Big Pharma at our disposal, why don’t we have synthetically-produced breast milk on the market? We can grow organs from stem cells and do all sorts of other amazing science things that involve replicating things usually created in the human body. I have to imagine this would become the top-selling “formula” overnight and be massively profitable for those involved. This seems like a no-brainer. What am I missing, or what’s taking so long?

—Ryan

This is a great question. There are a couple of answers.  

First: There is at least one startup that is working on this — Biomilq. So one answer to your question is that it is coming, although it’s unclear when, since approval of products like this tends to be very slow, even after development.

Second: What makes this challenging is that part of what’s interesting about breast milk is the way it adapts over time. When it’s hot outside, your milk has more water content. When you’re sick, it delivers (some) antibodies. Its flavor depends on the foods the mom eats. Replicating this in a standard milk is going to be difficult or impossible, so there are limits even if we could get closer to the nutrition profile. 

Finally: I will say I do not share your optimism about the size of the market. Any milk produced this way is going to be very expensive. And the reality is that the benefits of breast milk over formula are much smaller than are often claimed. So while I do think you would find some people willing to pay for this, it’s likely a small market. I might be wrong! I guess we’ll find out. But I predict not soon.

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