Placentophagy or consumption of the placenta is usually found in animals. But in recent years there were many women who also eat their placenta after childbirth. In particular, this phenomenon began to spread after some public figure, such as Kim Kardashian, spoke about his experience of eating the placenta.About why not to do it,resembles Medical Daily.
The popularity of placentophagy in recent years has increased significantly. We believe that women take this decision is not based on scientific theories or consultation with doctors, taking information from various blogs and websites, said in 2015, Dr. crystal Clark (Crystal Clark) from Feinbergs school of medicine at northwestern University (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine).
There are many ways to eat or drink their placenta. For maximum convenience it can dry, grind and make it into tablets or capsules. Some women even prepare their placenta, making her a smoothie.
So, what is the expected benefit in the use of the placenta? Supporters of placentophagy claim that it can protect the mother from postpartum depression, increase energy levels and milk production and also reduce pain.
Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence of such allegations. Studies have shown that some benefit from eating the placenta can extract only animals. For example, in female rats, eating your placenta, decreased pain threshold.
But what’s good for rats, it is not necessarily useful to humans. Most experts believe that eating the placenta has no significant effect on people. Mark Crystal (Mark Kristal), a neuroscientist from the state University of new York (the State University of New York), said that women who report benefits of eating the placenta, are experiencing the placebo effect.
Although the placenta has nutrients, but they can be destroyed with heat, even at room temperature. In some cases, the placenta may cause harm, especially if it is something infected.
There is always some concern about infection, and about the fact how the placenta is handled and stored after delivery, says obstetrician and gynecologist Kesia Gajjter (Kecia Gaither).
You can take as example the case in 2016, when a woman from Oregon decided to use their placenta in capsules for weeks after birth. Soon, however, her baby has started to develop a deadly infection caused by bacteria from the placenta.
It may, of course, nothing bad’s going to happen, but the risk of infection exists, says Ames Adalia (Amesh A. Adalja), senior researcher, Center for health security at Johns Hopkins (Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security).
But even if the probability is low, he believes that parents should be aware of the mortal danger, which may be child and all because of the use of his mother’s placenta, although the benefits from its use are not scientifically confirmed.
Dmitry Kolesnik