The placenta has been popping up in the most unexpected places recently.
From being eaten (raw or cooked), making appearances in photo frames and prints done in its blood, it seems that people are finding new and interesting ways to help the placenta live on.
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Placenta teas, placenta steaks, placenta pills
Some women are choosing to consume their placenta — either through cooking it, eating it raw, using it to brew a tea, or drying it out and grinding it up for use in capsules.
Known as Placentophagy, reasons for consuming one’s placenta range from a celebration of the body’s ability to create new life, to a belief that consuming hormones and nutrients contained in the placenta can prevent postpartum depression (PPD) and promote healing.
A 2015 review on the benefits and risks of placentophagy suggests that women who have consumed their own placenta postpartum did perceive benefits from the practice. However, there is inconclusive evidence if this benefit was due to consuming the placenta or merely a placebo effect. There is currently no peer-reviewed evidence suggesting that consuming the placenta replenishes estrogen or other nutrient levels in humans.
Since one of the functions of the placenta is to protect the fetus from harmful environmental factors, eating it — even your own — means you may be ingesting the toxins that have been found in this tissue, such as selenium, cadmium, mercury, and lead. Various kinds of bacteria can also be present.
“While consuming placenta is a personal choice, we are advising mothers, and others who may be consuming placenta preparations that they should be aware of the potential risks associated with the practice for themselves and their babies,” says a statement by Health Canada. “There is currently no scientific evidence that supports claims of health benefits associated with consuming human placenta.”
Jewellery, picture frames and keepsakes
Moms who want to celebrate the placenta but aren’t interested in consuming it have other options, including turning it into decorative jewellery. Parents who would rather keep the placenta looking more, well, placenta-ey can also have it turned into a photo frame.
Some artists for hire will also make prints with your placenta, even using the natural blood instead of ink or paint.
Other parents may choose to bury the placenta, symbolizing their baby’s link to the earth. Often a tree or some other greenery or flowers is planted on top, using the placenta as fertilizer. If you choose to do this, the placenta should ideally be buried deep enough so it is far out of reach of foraging animals so that it can decompose before coming into contact with the plant roots, according to parents.com. Digging a hole two feet deep, covering it with soil, and the planting the tree on top should suffice.
Using placenta materials in eye drops
The human placenta has also shown up in health products, the latest being eyedrops sold by an Edmonton business. The Calgary Trail Vision Centre imported and sold Regener-Eyes Ophthalmic Solution, drops which reportedly contain “bioengineered protein-based fluid, extracted from human placental-derived biomaterials,” according to the company website. The product, however, was never authorized for distribution by Health Canada, and was recently recalled by the government health agency.
Anyone who purchased or were prescribed the drops have been advised to discontinue their use immediately and contact Health Canada if they are experiencing any adverse effects.
Risks versus reward
During pregnancy, the placenta functions to nourish the developing baby with oxygen and nutrients, and also filters waste out of the baby’s blood, according to Mayo Clinic. The placenta is also rich in various forms of stem cells, key players in the regeneration and healing of blood and tissue.
Being raw human tissue that plays a role in filtering waste, the placenta may carry viruses or bacteria such as HIV, streptococcus, and/or hepatitis. Incorrect storage or transportation of the placenta can also lead rotting