Eating placenta after giving birth 'borders on cannibalism' says leading gynaecologist
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
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.
Firefighters, violinists and the latest in fall fashions hit the runway at the inaugural show of Fashion Week of Rochester 2018 . The noontime fashion luncheon drew a sold-out crowd of over 500 people to the tent next to Midtown Athletic Club at 100 E. Highland Drive in Rochester. This is the second consecutive year that Fashion Week hosted the runway shows at the same site. Now in its ninth year, Fashion Week of Rochester is the largest fundraiser for the Center for Youth. This year's goal from the events, ranging from a boutique crawl to runway shows, is expected to raise more than $750,000, said Elaine Spaull , executive director of Center for Youth . The funds from Fashion Week will help with a new home on Arnett Boulevard for LGBTQ youths, fund the crisis nursery and aid young women who have been trafficked for sex. Rochester has a high rate of youth trafficking, said Spaull, who is also a city council member. This is the first year that all the shows will sell ou...
It went out of date 35-years-ago, but what does the inside of this tin of Green Giant sweetcorn look like now? The can was recently donated to a food bank in Cardiff, despite having a best before date of August 1982. But it turns out that the sweetcorn has lasted pretty well - and looks exactly the same as you would expect if it was well in date. Whether the same can be said about the taste is anyone's guess. And it's not the only out-of-date product the Cardiff food bank has received recently after someone donated a tin of soup to that is so old that Heinz doesn't even make the flavour anymore. The rusty can had clearly been forgotten about long ago at the back of someone's cupboard, until the donor decided to have a clear out. And when it arrived at Cardiff food bank - the tin of long since discontinued kidney soup was at least 46-years-old. The Heinz ‘ready to eat’ Kidney Soup, priced at 10d (24p in 'new' money) was handed into to the Trussell Tr...
Media caption The children's aunt Claire Pearson shared her memories of them The aunt of four children who died in a house fire in Salford says the family is trying to cope with their grief but "nothing will ever break us". Demi Pearson, 15, and siblings Brandon, eight, and Lacie, seven, died in the blaze in Walkden on Monday. Lia, three, died in hospital on Wednesday. Claire Pearson said: "What's happened is tragic but it won't separate this family. We are all very close." Her sister and the children's mother, Michelle, 35, is in hospital in a coma. Two men and a woman appeared in court earlier charged with murdering the siblings. They were remanded in custody until 9 March for a plea and trial preparation hearing. Ms Pearson says her sister is "an amazing woman" and the house on Jackson Street "was like a youth club with the amount of kids" who would visit. "She was such a mother to everybo...
Comments
Post a Comment