Eating your placenta after childbirth

[luckytxn 2,263]

This is like one of the most gross things I have ever read so I thought I would share.

Eating your placenta after childbirth may, or may not be, good for you

Researchers at the University at Buffalo and Buffalo State College have found that placentophagia, also known as eating the placenta or afterbirth, is widespread among non-human mammals but not among humans.

For non-humans, eating the placenta sparks more mother-infant interaction, provides some pregnancy-mediated analgesia to the mother, suppresses postpartum pseudopregnancy and is a catalyst for the onset of caretaking behavior, according to the study published online in the “Ecology of Food and Nutrition.”

However, while the practice is widespread and beneficial to other types of mammals the study’s authors point out this does mean eating your placenta would be a good idea for human mothers. In fact, they couldn’t really find any widespread placenta eating happening among humans, a result they think is curious.

Lead author Mark Kristal, professor of psychology and neuroscience at UB who has studied placentophagia for more than 40 years, points out that anecdotal accounts of women eating their own placentas after childbirth, does not make for a scientific study.

“People will do anything,” Kristal said in a press release. “But we shouldn’t read too much significance into reports of such exceptions, even if they are accurate, because they are neither reliable nor valid studies. My own studies found no evidence of the routine practice of placentophagia in other cultures, findings supported by a recent extensive study by anthropologists at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.”

“The more challenging anthropological question is… ‘why don’t humans engage in placentophagia as a biological imperative as so many other mammals apparently do?’ because we clearly do not do this as a matter of course today and apparently never have. Perhaps for humans, there is a greater adaptive advantage to not eating the placenta.”

The authors of the study do not suggest women start eating their placentas just because other animals do. The authors just urge that the effects of eating placenta be researched to identify the molecules that provide the beneficial effect, just as scientists study other substances for use in pharmacology.

While, the study notes no serious scientific study has been done on the effects of eating placenta, some women do say that eating it is good for them. (Most recently celebrity January Jones admitted she ate her placenta.) Some women bring the placenta to a preparer to be cooked, others look up DIY placenta recipes online, while others get it put into capsules they then call happy pills.

But while Jones said the placenta-eating was good for her, Nancy Redd writes for the New York Times Motherlode blog that for her it was a nightmare, and she was forced to stop after a few days:

After our son’s birth, I was meticulous about what went into my body. I declined all pain medication stronger than ibuprofen, and I even stopped using deodorant, fearing the rumors were true that aluminum might seep into my breast milk. I was a cheerful and healthy new mother. So why did I gobble placenta ground with what the processor mysteriously referred to as “cleansing herbs”? Somehow, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

But in my case, it was a terrible idea. Shortly after my first dose of two pills, I felt jittery and weird. By the next day, after just eight placenta pills, I was in tabloid-worthy meltdown mode, a frightening phase filled with tears and rage. This lasted another couple of awful days before my husband suggested that it wasn’t postpartum mommy madness finally making its appearance, but the hormone-and-goodness-knows-what-else-filled placenta pills.

My husband isn’t a doctor (though he is the son of doctors and has played one on screen), but he was right. After I went cold turkey on the placenta pills, I immediately felt better —exorcised even, of an entity that had willingly left my body but that I had stupidly, and with no medical supervision, scarfed back up.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

This is like one of the most gross things I have ever read so I thought I would share.

Eating your placenta after childbirth may, or may not be, good for you

Researchers at the University at Buffalo and Buffalo State College have found that placentophagia, also known as eating the placenta or afterbirth, is widespread among non-human mammals but not among humans.

For non-humans, eating the placenta sparks more mother-infant interaction, provides some pregnancy-mediated analgesia to the mother, suppresses postpartum pseudopregnancy and is a catalyst for the onset of caretaking behavior, according to the study published online in the "Ecology of Food and Nutrition."

However, while the practice is widespread and beneficial to other types of mammals the study's authors point out this does mean eating your placenta would be a good idea for human mothers. In fact, they couldn't really find any widespread placenta eating happening among humans, a result they think is curious.

Lead author Mark Kristal, professor of psychology and neuroscience at UB who has studied placentophagia for more than 40 years, points out that anecdotal accounts of women eating their own placentas after childbirth, does not make for a scientific study.

"People will do anything," Kristal said in a press release. "But we shouldn't read too much significance into reports of such exceptions, even if they are accurate, because they are neither reliable nor valid studies. My own studies found no evidence of the routine practice of placentophagia in other cultures, findings supported by a recent extensive study by anthropologists at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas."

"The more challenging anthropological question is… 'why don't humans engage in placentophagia as a biological imperative as so many other mammals apparently do?' because we clearly do not do this as a matter of course today and apparently never have. Perhaps for humans, there is a greater adaptive advantage to not eating the placenta."

The authors of the study do not suggest women start eating their placentas just because other animals do. The authors just urge that the effects of eating placenta be researched to identify the molecules that provide the beneficial effect, just as scientists study other substances for use in pharmacology.

While, the study notes no serious scientific study has been done on the effects of eating placenta, some women do say that eating it is good for them. (Most recently celebrity January Jones admitted she ate her placenta.) Some women bring the placenta to a preparer to be cooked, others look up DIY placenta recipes online, while others get it put into capsules they then call happy pills.

But while Jones said the placenta-eating was good for her, Nancy Redd writes for the New York Times Motherlode blog that for her it was a nightmare, and she was forced to stop after a few days:

After our son's birth, I was meticulous about what went into my body. I declined all pain medication stronger than ibuprofen, and I even stopped using deodorant, fearing the rumors were true that aluminum might seep into my breast milk. I was a cheerful and healthy new mother. So why did I gobble placenta ground with what the processor mysteriously referred to as "cleansing herbs"? Somehow, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

But in my case, it was a terrible idea. Shortly after my first dose of two pills, I felt jittery and weird. By the next day, after just eight placenta pills, I was in tabloid-worthy meltdown mode, a frightening phase filled with tears and rage. This lasted another couple of awful days before my husband suggested that it wasn't postpartum mommy madness finally making its appearance, but the hormone-and-goodness-knows-what-else-filled placenta pills.

My husband isn't a doctor (though he is the son of doctors and has played one on screen), but he was right. After I went cold turkey on the placenta pills, I immediately felt better —exorcised even, of an entity that had willingly left my body but that I had stupidly, and with no medical supervision, scarfed back up.

If the placenta is the after birth, what's the pre-birth, si man?

[Nagishkaw 510]

If the placenta is the after birth, what's the pre-birth, si man?

Was that idea pre conceived ?

[Darnell 8,478]

oxytocin release also useful, in lieu of that placenta stuff.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Was that idea pre conceived ?

No, it went full-term. Ova and out,

[luckytxn 2,263]

If the placenta is the after birth, what's the pre-birth, si man?

If you don't know what the pre-birth is I won't be telling you about the birds and bees.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

If you don't know what the pre-birth is I won't be telling you about the birds and bees.

Does a a six-pack of Lowenbrau figure prominent;y in the equation?

[Nagishkaw 510]

Does a a six-pack of Lowenbrau figure prominent;y in the equation?

[luckytxn 2,263]

Does a a six-pack of Lowenbrau figure prominent;y in the equation?

Possible.

[HeatDeath 430]

Wouldn't pre-birth be the amniotic fluid when the water breaks? It'd be hard to consume that though - it's usually a surprise when the water breaks and most people aren't going to be prepared to catch or capture it.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Wouldn't pre-birth be the amniotic fluid when the water breaks? It'd be hard to consume that though - it's usually a surprise when the water breaks and most people aren't going to be prepared to catch or capture it.

OK.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

We used to have to bury the afterbirth when our mares foaled or the dog would eat it. And if you didn't bury it deep enough he would dig it up.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Could always incorporate it into a food flag.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Very gross.

[X Factor 1,110]

Sick, sick, sick. Oh did I forget to say sick?