This is something I’m experimenting on. I’ve thus far taken a very long creative break from blogging. I have a long list of ideas that I need to actually work out, but this one is my favorite. I call it “Woo or True?”
In “Woo or True?” I will discuss a
parenting topic I see debated and discussed often and whether or not it is
scientifically sound. As per usual, I source as much as I can, and my
source list can be found at the very end of this blog. I welcome any and all
suggestions for topics. These posts will also be attempted to be kept as a somewhat light read.
I do personally apologize for the LONG
break of posts here on Back From Nature. Enjoy!
♥ Maranda
An often underestimated topic in
the natural parenting community is placenta consumption. It’s a topic I saw
more often than almost any other, and yet it is also one I almost never see
discussed on science-based parenting blogs, websites, or groups. I, myself, had
wanted to consume mine. I can still recall reading placenta pot roast recipes
online.
 |
| “I ate my placenta with some fava beans and a nice chianti” |
In fact, there are people with
entire careers based on placental encapsulation (the act of steaming,
dehydrating and grinding the placenta before putting it into a pill) for new
mothers. Mothers, doulas, and midwives of various backgrounds can be found
promoting consumption either by cooking it as any other meat, raw,
encapsulated, or in smoothies. But where’s the proof? What does placentophagy (the consumption of placenta) supposedly even do? Does it completely prevent the PPD or just alleviate it?
What they say it does:
“I truly felt better shortly after taking them--on mornings when I
felt sluggish or anxious, I could feel a change in my body after taking the
pills.” [1]
“The difference
between my first two postpartum periods and the third was simply amazing!
Instead of about five days of crying and feeling totally overwhelmed, even
paranoid, I experienced one afternoon of teariness and then I was able to
recognize that my feelings were related to hormones. I felt more in control
than I had with my first babies and so much happier.” [2]
“The
placenta is thought to be rich in nutrients that the mother needs to recover
more readily from childbirth. . . . Researchers from the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) conducted a study that focused on CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing
Hormone). . . . They concluded that the placenta secreted so much CRH that the
hypothalamus stopped producing it. Once the placenta was born, it took some
time for the hypothalamus to get the signal that the CRH levels were low, and
to begin producing it again.” [3]*
Proof that it’s true:
Well, not much. Like a lot of things in the world of woo, I
seemed to find that most of the “proof” of the benefits of placental
consumption came from moms all boasting about it to eachother. If you find this
to count as evidence, I wish to direct you here.
Listed in my third source above,
was a few studies. Now, I had to google it, as their source link was dead, but
I did find the 1995 Discover study on CRH and PPD. [4]
Human placenta is also used in
traditional Chinese medicine.
Proof that it’s woo:
Firstly,
I’d like to point out that nowhere in the study on CRH and PPD was placental
consumption ever discussed or brought up or researched. Not once. Consumption
was not part of the study. The conclusion was made, clearly, in the part of the
author of the post as well as other placental consumption advocates, who made
the conclusion that “If I lose this and get depressed, then when I eat it it’ll
make me not depressed.”
Placental encapsulation businesses
are also held to absolutely no standards, guidelines, or rules. There is no
body that sets regulations for how a placenta must be handled when
encapsulated. As a result, the dangers of having someone take your placenta and
encapsulate it are many. They could be throwing your placenta in the toilet,
they could be throwing it in the garbage and giving you ground up hair.
Dramatic, but truly the risk of strangers without training or mandation on
encapsulation.
“Well,” you may be saying “I’m not having
someone else encapsulate my placenta! I will be handling it all on my own!”
In 2012, Michelle Beacock of Edge
Hill university conducted a study published in the British Journal of Midwifery that found that evidence of proof behind anecdotes about placental
consumption is limited, dated, and
ultimately inconclusive. [5]
In 2015, Northwestern University in
Illinois conducted a review published in Archives of Women’s Mental Health.
The review looked at placenta-consumption related research since 1950 and could not find any data to support the
claims that eating the placenta raw, cooked, or in pill form carried any health
benefits. Also in the review, was the fact that there are no studies which
look at the actual risks of placental consumption. [6]
And do I really have to debunk
traditional Chinese medicine?
So, is it woo or true?
SURVEY SAYS….. WOO!
There
is nothing current, detailed, and conclusive that supports this idea that
placental consumption will prevent PPD. The closest thing to that evidence is
anecdote, which as you know, simply is not enough. There are also no studies
that address the potential risks.
Back
From Nature, and science, firmly recommend that you do NOT eat your placenta
for any reason.
You
wouldn’t eat poop. You wouldn’t eat vomit. You wouldn’t eat your liver. Please,
don’t eat your placenta.
SOURCES:
[1] Milioto, Biba (October 22,
2013) http://www.xojane.com/healthy/why-placenta-encapsulation-is-the-smartest-post-partum-decision-i-could-have-made
“Why Placenta Encapsulation Is The Smartest Post-Partum Decision I Could Have
Made”
[2] Sarah http://placentabenefits.info/testimonials.asp
* A fun note on this source. While this
post discusses the benefits of placenta for healing, including stopping
hemorrhaging, preventing PPD, promoting breast milk production, enhancing pain tolerance,
etc, there is a disclaimer at the bottom that says: “This site is for
informational purposes only. It does not intend to treat, cure, or prevent any
disease.” I found this particularly interesting because, while this legal
disclaimer claims this is not intended to treat a disease, it seems fairly
obvious that is exactly what the intention is. This is one of many examples of
truly sneaky practices made by woo-promoters in order to provide bogus health advice without getting sued when it doesn't work.
[4] Ilona S.
Yim, PhD, Laura M. Glynn, PhD, Christine Dunkel Schetter, PhD, Calvin J. Hobel,
MD, Aleksandra Chicz-DeMet, PhD, and Curt A. Sandman, PhD (1995) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2768579/
“Elevated Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone in Human Pregnancy Increases the Risk
of Postpartum Depressive Symptoms”
[5] Beacock,
Michelle (July 1, 2012) http://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjom.2012.20.7.464
“Does eating placenta offer postpartum health benefits?”
[6] Cynthia W.
Coyle, Kathryn E. Hulse, Katherine L. Wisner, Kara E. Driscoll, Crystal T.
Clark (October 2015) Archives
of Women’s Mental Health, Volume 18, Issue 5, pp 673-680 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00737-015-0538-8
(Placentophagy: therapeutic miracle or myth?)
--OR-- http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33006384
Really interesting thank you and thanks for the links. I was looking into this last year and found all kinds of woo including people selling homeopathic placenta tincture which claimed to be a treatment for ill babies!
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