Women Pregnancy

Placentophagy is the eating of the placenta after birth, is common among mammals - and also in some human cultures. Followers of Chinese medicine prepare it with rice wine, herbs and ginger before the mixture is dried, and it is then taken in capsules three times a day by the mother during the first month after birth.

It became popular in some circles in the West during the 1970s, when it was associated with “earth mothers”. Adherents of the practice believe that the placenta can help to prevent post-natal depression because it is rich in minerals and nutrients, particularly vitamin B6, which is know to ward off depression. Some believe that men and close family who eat the placenta feel more bonded with the baby.

Even some German women mix their placentas into clarified butter and use it to treat their babies’ skin ailments. The television chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall caused outrage in 1998 when his TV Dinners programme showed him making a paté out of a woman’s placenta, which was then eaten by her and her family.
One woman on the British website Mothers 35 Plus tells how her placenta was put in a blender with a glass of V8 fruit juice and served to her by her midwife and wrote, “To my delight and surprise, it was great!”

Not all experts believe that eating the placenta will do any good. Maggie Blott, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “Animals eat their placenta to get nutrition, but when people are already well-nourished, there is no benefit. There is no reason to do it.”