The placenta is a fascinating organ that does so much for the baby. It provides nourishment, oxygen, and removes toxins from their system. Who knew that it could also be eaten? Yes, you can eat your baby’s placenta raw or cooked in a number of different ways after they are born. Some people choose to do this because they believe it will help with postpartum depression by providing hormones and nutrients to the mother who just gave birth. Others think it tastes good! In this blog post we will discuss both sides of the issue – those who love eating their baby’s placenta and those who don’t want anything to do with it – in hopes that one side may convince you more than another.
The option of placentophagia (consuming the placenta) provides women with a choice to naturally rehabilitate and replenish their postpartum bodies. It is a way to be proactive against many ailments that may arise during the postpartum period, restoring the health of the mother in the way nature has intended. I encapsulated both of my placentas after birth and am a big believer in their healing properties. I saw a huge difference in my postpartum recovery once I started taking the capsules!
How To Eat Your Placenta?
Pill Form: A professional can prepare pills from your placenta if you choose to do so. In order to make capsules, they dehydrate the organ and grind it into a powder before putting it in them. Everything is neatly wrapped and ready for you to eat.
Placenta Broth: Placenta broth is a by-product of the steaming process. This valuable liquid is saved because it has been proven to be useful to many mothers. It is the essence of the placenta, containing bio-genetic hormones and nutrients. Think of the healing power of Bone Broth, multiplied by infinity and tailored to your bio-specific needs.
Placenta Smoothie: Whizz up your placenta with anything else you usually make your smoothies with.
Fried: Placenta is like any red meat and can be steamed, fried, baked.. any way you want. It can spoil so either cook it straight away or freeze it ready for when you want to eat it.
What does placenta taste like?
Some people who have consumed placenta have stated that it is chewy and has a flavor similar to liver or beef. Others claim that it has an iron flavor to it. If that sounds uncomfortable and you still want to try placenta, you might want to think about combining it with other foods or boiling it instead of raw.
What is Placenta Broth?
Placenta Broth…savoring every last drop! In the Traditional Chinese Medicine inspired preparation of placenta encapsulation, the steaming process creates a rich broth loaded with nutrients. This broth is often referred to as Placenta Broth, Mother’s Broth, or Miracle Soup. When consumed, this nutrient-dense, tonified broth aides in the healing and recovery of the newly postpartum mother’s body.
In the Traditional Chinese Medicine sense, tonification is a therapeutic treatment that nourishes and replenishes the blood and balance of the body in areas where they are deficient or weak. Tonification works in a number of ways to improve health and the overall condition of the body. Tonification helps in regulating the body’s balance, promoting optimal functioning of the organs, by stimulating the circulation of the blood. As with all major activities of life, labor and delivery bring about a shift in the body. The beautiful process of birth can leave a woman’s body in an unbalanced state.
This broth can be added to your favorite tea, juice, smoothies, or used in a soup. It can also be consumed by itself. Not disposing of the broth and consuming this miracle soup, the mother is savoring every last drop of the placenta’s amazing benefits, wasting nothing.
Why did people start eating placenta?
Placentophagy is a rare behavior in modern times, owing to the fact that most contemporary human cultures do not encourage the consumption of placenta. A few celebreties have done it and suddenly its become vogue. However, as humans it’s likely we have eaten our placenta since time began! Most mammals do eat their placenta, humans being one of the few that do not.
Why do Chinese eat placenta?
It was in the 1500s that the medicinal properties of the placenta were first reported, and in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), consuming one’s placenta is thought to have a variety of benefits, including balancing hormones, assisting with postnatal recovery, reducing bleeding, and increasing breast milk production.
Why you should not eat your placenta?
A large number of physiologically active chemicals are believed to be lost during the encapsulation process. In one of the few published studies investigating the composition of placenta capsules, only three out of the 17 hormones measured in part of the study were found to be present in high enough levels to be physiologically relevant.
This is one of the few published studies investigating the composition of placenta capsules. Especially noteworthy is the fact that two of these hormones – oestradiol and progesterone – have been shown to actively suppress milk production. In order to validate the notion that placenta capsules have hormonal benefits, more research is clearly required.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that ingesting placenta could be harmful to your child. As reported by the Oregon Health Authority in 2016, an instance of newborn infant getting late-onset group B Streptococcus agalactiae as a result of the mother swallowing tainted placenta pills was identified in 2016.
Furthermore, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is insufficient scientific evidence to support claims that consuming afterbirth is beneficial. The agency also advises against taking placenta pills because the process does not remove harmful pathogens, such as salmonella, that can make you or your child sick.
The placenta is full or iron, so if you have heamochromotosis it’s best to avoid it!
Take Away
Whatever the health benefits of placentophagy, there is no disputing the powerful emotional response that the subject elicits whenever it is discussed. Eating your baby’s placenta is a controversial topic for many reasons. On the one hand, some people believe that it will help with postpartum depression by providing hormones and nutrients to the mother who just gave birth after she has given up so much of herself during childbirth.
Others think it tastes good! It can be eaten raw or cooked in different ways, but either way there are risks involved with eating this organ because you cannot know how safe it is without an FDA inspection. One thing most everyone agrees on – don’t eat your placenta if you have been exposed to any kind of infectious disease lately or carrying parasites like toxoplasmosis which could affect your baby as well even though they may not show symptoms yet. All things considered, sometimes it’s best to leave the placenta alone.
