In one of our previous posts, we told you we learned in birth class that you can actually
eat your placenta. You remember, right? Tyler said he would eat his and I said no waaaaay will I eat mine. Turns out there is some pretty interesting research about eating one's placenta. One of the couples from our birth class (the future Dad happens to be a statistics Ph.D. student at the U of M) dug it up and e-mailed it to our class yesterday. The topic is a little gross but I can't help but find it interesting!
First of all, eating one's placenta is called “placentophagy.” Who knew? While we often hear consumption of placentas is common in other cultures, this actually isn’t true. Placentophagy happens occasionally in human populations, but it is most common in animal populations. In many other cultures, though, placentas are kept and used in a traditional ritual of some kind (e.g., planting them under trees, or, in Hmong culture, burying them under the house to ward off malicious spirits).
Actual clinical trials on the benefits or impacts of placentophagy are few and far between. Here is a link to a compilation of scientific articles on the benefits of placenta consumption.
http://placentabenefits.info/research.asp
The study that nearly all pro-placenthophagy websites and articles go back to is a single study published in 1954 with a very small trial sample (only about 200 participants). The study showed that consumption of the placenta increased milk supply at higher rates than a placebo.
A few rat studies showed there were some pain suppression benefits to placentophagy, though none of these have been extended to human trials.
And, some publications show that postpartum depression may be linked to a hormone imbalance that is created by the loss of the placenta, but they do not show that consuming the placenta can correct it.
What does seem to be true is that, immediately after giving birth, some women have issues with bleeding, and the immediate ingestion of the placenta can give an infusion of iron, proteins, and hormones that encourages clamping down. Apparently it's not unheard of to see a mom wash off a placenta, cut a chunk off, pop it in the blender with some juice, and stop bleeding as a result.
So, the take home message is that there may be loose benefits to consuming a placenta to increase one's milk supply, stymie bleeding, provide extra iron, and encourage contractions of the uterus. And, there could be emotional benefits to putting one's placenta in the ground as a gesture of respect to oneself and one's baby.
Generally, I think there is no right or wrong answer to the placentophagy question. It seems like a very personal decision based on, not only the science out there, but personal motivations.
If you are interested, here's a hysterical opinion piece on placenta consumption from a guy’s perspective: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1908194,00.html
And, for those of you who are nauseous and thoroughly grossed out now, you will be happy to hear that Tyler and I are not planning to write any more placenta eating blog posts :)
