Reality TV star Holly Madison recently announced her plans to have her baby’s placenta turned into pills and ingest them after the birth of her baby. While in some cultures, the placenta is eaten, a practice known as placentophagy. In some eastern cultures, such as China and Hong Kong, the dried placenta is thought to be a healthful restorative and is sometimes used in preparations of traditional Chinese medicine and various health products.
Holly Madison recently posted on her website, “This might sound gross, but I’m totally planning on having my placenta turned into pills I can take after giving birth. I heard it helps women recover faster and I want to recover as quickly as I can!”… “Have any other moms out there done this?”
“Mad Men” actress January Jones told People magazine that she began taking placenta pills after giving birth last fall and credits them with helping her to bounce back quickly. The most commonly cited benefit of placenta consumption is that it helps balance hormones and thereby combats postpartum depression.
According to the Huffington Post, “The woman's placenta is cleaned, cooked, dried and made into ingestible capsules. Some women choose to eat it raw, cooked or blended into smoothies. In a blog for HuffPost Science, behavioral neuroscientist Mark Kristal said women think eating the placenta can help or reduce "postpartum depression, 'baby blues,' fatigue, lactational insufficiency and hormone deficiencies."
Along with the growing popularity of consuming one’s placenta, new companies have seen the demand and offer services to process a woman’s afterbirth. Many companies will pick up the new mom’s placenta from the hospital, then steam it, dry it and encapsulate it before returning it to the mom in a few days’ time. Other reports show that some people make a dish that would normally contain meat, like stew or lasagna, and then replace the meat with placenta.
Some experts say the up-and-coming industry is a scam, though, particularly when companies tout the afterbirth as a means to prevent post-partum depression. At its worst, post-partum depression can lead to suicide. Most new mothers will experience the baby blues, feelings of sadness caused by hormone changes and sleep deprivation.
What do you think about Holly Madison’s decision to have her baby’s placenta turned into pills and ingesting it? Leave a comment below and let us know!
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