January Jones ate her own placenta and then talked about it to People Magazine. Blogger Elizabeth Stark didn't just eat the placenta, she encourages other moms to do so as well. Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, a celebrity chef in the UK ate his wife's placenta on his TV show. Are you grossed out yet?
Although there hasn't been enough evidence to either endorse or denounce placenta-eating and the supposed health benefits, humans are the only mammals who don't do it. Advocates of human placentophagy (eating human placentas) say that it helps prevent and relieve postpartum depression. Other mammal mothers eat the placenta, but it may be in part for the nutritional benefits. As most human mothers are already well fed, some obstetricians say that there is no medical reason for them to consume the placenta.
Even so, some celebrity mothers seem to be on-board with the practice and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) sometimes includes dried human placenta for the treatment of impotence, infertility, and other health conditions.
More research is clearly needed on the effects of eating human placenta. In the meantime, for those women who are interested, human placenta is available in pill form or dried (as shown above). We urge you to discuss your questions and thoughts on placentophagy with your OBGYN, and we'd also love to hear your thoughts on this rather bizarre sounding new trend below. What do you think? Would you be down to eat placenta?
