What is Placenta Eating?
Eating Placenta is Said to Be Beneficial for the Mother
Placenta eating, also known as Placentophagy, is basically women eating its own placenta. Some mammals in the animal kingdom eat placenta after giving birth. Humans also may do so in some cultural setting ans specific countries. In fact, placenta eating is common in China and certain Pacific countries and Mexico. Placentophagy is very rare in the US. In fact placenta is treated as a medical residue subject to pathogen treatment. However, women in the US are being interested in placentophagy and learning the benefits of placenta eating.
The rationale behind placenthology is that eating placenta after birth may increase the content of nutrient for the mother who has lost a lot of them in the latest stages of her pregnancy. Also, it is said that eating placenta lowers the risk of hemorrhages and aids in preventing post partum depression
What are the Benefits of Placenta Eating?
Sources indicate a great variety of benefits associated with the practice of placenta eating. It is said that eating the placenta immediately after birth increases breast milk in the mother breast, lowers the risk of pot-partum hemorrhage, and has many nutritional benefits for the mother. But avoiding PPD (postpartum depression) is the main reason for eating placenta.
One way to eat placenta is to take just after birth and dehydrate it. Once dried, it is minced and encapsulated in pills. The mother will take a daily placenta "pill"until she finished. This way it is said to preserve the properties of the placenta and it is an easy way to eat it.
Some detractors of the practice of placenta eating say that placentophagy is a form of cannibalism but this is not true since cannibalism involves eating muscle (meat basically) from a human origin which is not the case of placenta.
Source:
Meat of life. 1980. Science Digest. Volume 88. page 79
Afterbirth: It's What's For Dinner - TIME
Placenta eating video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIs9VLDRCPQ
Published by R. Bourne, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Food and Nutrition. MBA. R. Bourne writes mainly about Health and Wellness, Alternative Medicine and Healing, Nutrition, Dieting and Food Science and Technology. He has been writing online content... View profile
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