Eating placenta after giving birth 'borders on cannibalism' says leading gynaecologist
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Eating the placenta after giving birth “borders on cannibalism” and can lead to infections, a leading gynaecologist has said.
Consuming the afterbirth has been made popular by celebrities including Coleen Rooney and Kim Kardashian , who had the nutrient-rich organ processed into pills.
A recent report published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology showed that increasing numbers of new mothers in the UK and US were requesting to take the placenta home with them after birth.
The trend is known as placentophagy and was popularised after some claimed eating the placenta, which contains high levels of nutrients and hormones, can improve the milk production and moods.
However, placenta eating can pose a risk of infection and should not be branded as a 'superfood', according to gynaecologist Alex Farr, of the Medical University of Vienna. Dr Farr insists that consuming the placenta will not help lactation or post-natal depression.
Medically speaking, the placenta is a waste product. Most mammals eat the placenta after birth, but we can only guess why they do so,” said Dr Farr.
“After the placenta is genetically part of the newborn, eating the placenta borders on cannibalism.
The placenta is usually processed into capsules. Kim Kardashian showed of the dark grey pills made from her placenta in a photo on Instagram.
“The presumed nutrients such as iron, selenium and zinc are not present in sufficient concentrations in the placenta.
"However, high concentrations of heavy metals in the placenta were found to accumulate there during pregnancy."
A mum in the US capsules got blood poisoning from the streptococcus group of bacteria after consuming her placentophagy pills.
This sparked the US Department of Health to warn against the practice.
These bacteria could be detected in the placenta capsules of the mother and were probably transmitted by her to the child during breastfeeding, the department said.
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