If all mammals eat the placenta, that must mean at one time we did too. But do all mammals eat the placenta? Whales do? Deer do? If it is processed, wouldn't the nutrients be lost? And do hospitals let you decide what gets done with the placenta? For all they know, I'm taking it home to feed to my cat. Ingesting the placenta: Is it healthy for new moms? Debi French was dreading the birth of her fourth child. She wanted the baby, to be sure, but she was terrified of being visited again with the overwhelming despair that came over her in the days and weeks after her last delivery. French's midwife offered her an unusual remedy: She suggested the expectant mother ingest her own placenta as a means of allaying postpartum depression. The temporary organ was saved, dried and emulsified, then placed in gelatin capsules and taken by the mother in the months after the birth in December 2004. "Before I actually did it, my friends thought it was weird," says French, 29, of Spokane, Wash., whose fifth child is due in August. "But when they saw how fast I recovered from my birth and they knew my history, they thought it was pretty neat. Now I have a lot of friends planning to do it." The practice, known as placentophagy, is far from widespread and is received with great skepticism by more traditional medical experts. But among a small but vocal contingent of expectant mothers and proponents, it is strongly believed that the organ created by the woman's body to pass nutrients between mother and fetus and is expelled after birth is rich in chemicals that can help mitigate fluctuations in hormones believed to cause postpartum depression. "I feel that it is what we as women are meant to do with the placenta," says Jodi Selander of Las Vegas, who offers encapsulation services and is collecting testimonials of women who have ingested placenta for her website, placentabenefits.info. The practice is raising eyebrows at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Spokeswoman Kris Mejia says the FDA considers that some statements on the website are making medical claims and will be looking more carefully into the matter. "Human placental capsules that make treatment claims … must be accompanied by well-designed and controlled clinical studies to support approval/licensure," Mejia wrote in an e-mail. Selander says she does the encapsulation as a service and doesn't charge for it. She also says she sought guidance from the FDA but got no clear answers. Still, Selander says, "every single mammal ingests its placenta. We are the only mammal on Earth that went away from this practice." http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-07-18-placenta-ingestion_N.htm
Hmm i read somwhere that it is indeed healthy to do so. The question arises why humans "went away from this practice". It pure guess work but maybe humans stopped doing it when they discovered fire and began cooking their food. After some time (generations) humans may have gotten repulsed by eating raw meat (and rightly so because it can pose a health hazard). So it could be some kind of cultural evolution that caused us to stop eating the placenta.
You don't have to eat it raw. It can make a tasty dinner. http://www.mothers35plus.co.uk/plac_rec2.htm And there's nothing wacky about it. Even Tom Cruise does it. http://www.rte.ie/arts/2006/0418/cruiset.html
Now that IS wacky, thats not natural at all. But then, Tom Cruise is rather wacky himself.. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
This picture will get your taste-buds atinglin' http://www.acmc.uq.edu.au/images/projectimages/Fresh_Placenta.jpg btw Can you smoke it?
Even Tom Cruise... :huh: *We shall have another child... And I'll eat the delicious placenta again... And... And... After that... I'll eat my left testicle... With saffron and wine... And I will do that in silence...* Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! This is interesting quote from Selander. Because of cannibalism maybe? I know chewing hangnails could also be considered as a form of cannibalism, but placenta resembles more on organs (and it is). Just because it's not needed after birth, doesn't mean it should become delicious meal. What about appendix and tonsils... Are they tasty with garlic... Filled with rich dressing of mayonnaise, parsley and other spices?
I keep looking for a site that will tell what the amniotic fluid would taste like (research for a story - honest) but can't find it. Has anyone come across a good description in their research of this... act?
Research for a story? I believe you. Try this link. I think I'm going to give up on this thread now. I'm feeling a bit queasy. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=amniotic fluid Oh and Plazma Inferno "Even Tom Cruise" English humour, don't worry no-one understands it.
oh for crying out loud. Fine Chris. Do all female mammals who have a placenta after giving birth, eat it? Better?
Not if they have husbands like Tom Cruise. Regarding Tom Cruise, what a selfish creature he is! When his wife has just given birth to his son, all he can think about is gobbling up the Placenta for some supposed health benefit to himself.
I agree. DISGUSTING! but they did say they dried it, ground it and put it in capsules. I don't see how any nutrients would have survived.
