Yes, you read that right. Placentophagy, or tasting your placenta after childbirth is a practice that is on the rise in England and the United States. 4,000 Anglo-Saxons have already tried the experiment since 2010, according to The Telegraph. Encouraged by midwives, these young mothers actually hope to increase their milk production and avoid the infamous baby blues. postpartum.
And rather than forcing themselves to eat it raw, some have found a trick: they grind it to mix it with fruit in a smoothie to cover the taste, or cook it in the oven like a common steak or in lasagna. In the United States, a flourishing business has even emerged to convince the most rejected. Interviewed by AFP, Claudia Booker, a 65-year-old midwife offers women to put their placenta in capsules after having dried it out for the modest sum of 270 dollars (248 euros). For her, these capsules stimulate the release of prolactin responsible for milk production.
Virtues unproven and of little use in our society
Composed of iron, vitamin B12 and many hormones, the placenta is an organ in its own right. It is a mass of very vascularized spongy tissue, which acts as a nourishing filter. “The placenta will filter all the blood coming from the mother to give the baby blood devoid of the vast majority of viruses and bacteria maternal ”, explains Marianne Benoit Truong Canh, vice-president of the National Council of the Order of Midwives. This organ will be expelled during childbirth, or removed in the event of a cesarean.
For the midwife, this practice is all the more shocking as there is currently no clinical study attesting to the benefits of consuming the placenta.
Although it does contain iron and vitamin B12, Marianne Benoit Truong Canh is very skeptical of any potential antidepressant properties. Nutritional side, “there are much more concentrated iron and vitamin B12 supplements,” said the midwife. As to baby blues, it most often requires home support and psychological support to the young mother by a midwife. “It is a passage that must be brief (1 to 2 months maximum), otherwise we are talking about depression. The woman simply needs to be helped, surrounded, accompanied and guided. “
If other mammals have recourse to placentophagy, it is certainly because the placenta has a nutritional interest for the weakened mother, but also because the layer must be cleaned so as not to leave a trace and to remove the predators. “These are constraints that are not ours, fortunately,” says the midwife. “Today we still have extremely favorable living conditions, with medicines and vitamins available. It’s still an organ, why go and eat one of its organs? “, The midwife gets carried away, before adding that” it is as if we were drinking our urine when we are thirsty. “
An organ in its own right, then an operative waste
“In France, the placenta is considered an organ,” explains Marianne Benoit Truong Canh. “Consequently, it is framed by regulatory texts, and must be cremated after childbirth, or recovered for therapeutic and / or scientific purposes. It is strictly forbidden and illegal to transform a placenta into capsules for a fee. “
The midwife explains to us that the placenta is subject to several texts due to its status as an organ and operative waste, just like the umbilical cord.
It is the circular DGS / PP4 / 2012/328 of August 31, 2012 from the Directorate General of Health (DGS) which frames and stipulates what must be done with the placenta, the umbilical cord and the cells that constitute them. Thus, “when they are not used for therapeutic and scientific purposes, the placenta and the cord are surgical waste which must be incinerated in application of the regulations relating to waste from healthcare activities with infectious risks. “
For Marianne Benoit Truong Canh, this practice of eating the placenta or making capsules is almost non-existent in France, due to strict regulations. On the other hand, “women often ask to see their placenta to understand how it works, how they fed their baby,” notes the midwife, who assures that she has never had to deal with a couple wanting to recover the placenta.
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