Human placentophagy: a review Farr, Alex; Chervenak, Frank A.; McCullough, Laurence B. ...
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology,
April 2018, 2018-04-00, 20180401, Volume:
218, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Placentophagy or placentophagia, the postpartum ingestion of the placenta, is widespread among mammals; however, no contemporary human culture incorporates eating placenta postpartum as part of its ...traditions. At present, there is an increasing interest in placentophagy among postpartum women, especially in the United States. The placenta can be eaten raw, cooked, roasted, dehydrated, or encapsulated or through smoothies and tinctures. The most frequently used preparation appears to be placenta encapsulation after steaming and dehydration. Numerous companies offer to prepare the placenta for consumption, although the evidence for positive effects of human placentophagy is anecdotal and limited to self-reported surveys. Without any scientific evidence, individuals promoting placentophagy, especially in the form of placenta encapsulation, claim that it is associated with certain physical and psychosocial benefits. We found that there is no scientific evidence of any clinical benefit of placentophagy among humans, and no placental nutrients and hormones are retained in sufficient amounts after placenta encapsulation to be potentially helpful to the mother postpartum. In contrast to the belief of clinical benefits associated with human placentophagy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a warning due to a case in which a newborn infant developed recurrent neonatal group B Streptococcus sepsis after the mother ingested contaminated placenta capsules containing Streptococcus agalactiae. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that the intake of placenta capsules should be avoided owing to inadequate eradication of infectious pathogens during the encapsulation process. Therefore, in response to a woman who expresses an interest in placentophagy, physicians should inform her about the reported risks and the absence of clinical benefits associated with the ingestion. In addition, clinicians should inquire regarding a history of placenta ingestion in cases of postpartum maternal or neonatal infections such as group B Streptococcus sepsis. In conclusion, there is no professional responsibility on clinicians to offer placentophagy to pregnant women. Moreover, because placentophagy is potentially harmful with no documented benefit, counseling women should be directive: physicians should discourage this practice. Health care organizations should develop clear clinical guidelines to implement a scientific and professional approach to human placentophagy.
Abstract
The use of placenta preparations as an individual puerperal remedy can be traced back to historical, traditional practices in Western and Asian medicine. To evaluate the ingestion of ...processed placenta as a puerperal remedy, the potential risks (trace elements, microorganisms) and possible benefit (hormones in the placental tissue) of such a practice are discussed in this article based on a literature review.
Zusammenfassung
Die Einnahme der eigenen Plazenta durch die Mutter als individuelles Heilmittel im Wochenbett ist zurückzuführen auf historische, traditionelle Anwendungen in abendländischer und asiatischer komplementärer Medizin. In dieser Übersichtsarbeit wurden mittels Literaturrecherche sowohl die möglichen Risiken (Spurenelemente, Mikroorganismen) als auch möglicher Nutzen (Hormone im Plazentagewebe) erfasst, um die Einnahme der verarbeiteten Plazenta als Heilmittel im Wochenbett zu bewerten.
The first clinical applications of oxytocin (OT) were in obstetrics as a hormone to start and speed up labor and to control postpartum hemorrhage. Discoveries in the 1960s and 1970s revealed that the ...effects of OT are not limited to its peripheral actions around birth and milk ejection. Indeed, OT also acts as a neuromodulator in the brain affecting fear memory, social attachment, and other forms of social behaviors. The peripheral and central effects of OT have been separately subject to extensive scrutiny. However, the effects of peripheral OT—particularly in the form of administration of synthetic OT (synOT) around birth—on the central nervous system are surprisingly understudied. Here, we provide a narrative review of the current evidence, suggest putative mechanisms of synOT action, and provide new directions and hypotheses for future studies to bridge the gaps between neuroscience, obstetrics, and psychiatry.
•Synthetic oxytocin (synOT) is widely used around childbirth.•Effects of synOT on the central nervous system is largely unknown.•The central OT system modulates fear processes including fear memories.•Effects of synOT on maternal postpartum mental disorders are largely understudied.•SynOT effects on infant mental disorders such as autism are largely uninvestigated.
Placentophagia and the Tao of POEF Kristal, Mark B.; DiPirro, Jean M.; Thompson, Alexis C. ...
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews,
February 2023, 2023-02-00, 20230201, Volume:
145
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Placentophagia, ingestion of placenta and amniotic fluid, usually during parturition, is a behavioral feature of nearly all nonaquatic, placental mammals, and is a nexus for several interlocking ...behavioral phenomena. Placentophagia has not been typical of human cultures, but in recent years, some women in affluent societies have engaged in it, thereby bringing publicity to the behavior. First, we summarized benefits of placentophagia for nonhuman mammals, which include increased attractiveness of neonates, enhanced onset of maternal behavior, suppression of pseudopregnancy, and enhancement of opioid hypoalgesia by Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor (POEF), a benefit that may extend well outside the context of parturition. The research on POEF in animals was discussed in detail. Then we discussed placentophagia (placentophagy) in humans, and whether there is validity to the claims of various benefits reported primarily in the pro-placentophagy literature, and, although human afterbirth shows POEF activity, the POEF effect has not yet been tested in humans. Finally, we discussed the general possible implications, for the management of pain and addiction, of isolating and characterizing POEF.
•Placentophagia in nonhuman mammals facilitates mother-infant bonding and maternal behavior, suppresses pseudopregnancy, and helps to suppress pain.•POEF, when ingested, enhances endogenous and exogenous opioid-mediated hypoalgesia in males and females.•Afterbirth of all species tested contains POEF.•Despite some changes in maternal chemistry, placentophagy in humans has not been demonstrated to be beneficial.•POEF, if isolated and synthesized, may be a novel way to manage pain and addiction.
Placentophagy: therapeutic miracle or myth? Coyle, Cynthia W.; Hulse, Kathryn E.; Wisner, Katherine L. ...
Archives of Women's Mental Health,
10/2015, Volume:
18, Issue:
5
Journal Article, Book Review
Peer reviewed
Open access
Postpartum women are consuming their placentas encapsulated, cooked, and raw for the prevention of postpartum depression (PPD), pain relief, and other health benefits. Placentophagy is supported by ...health advocates who assert that the placenta retains hormones and nutrients that are beneficial to the mother. A computerized search was conducted using PubMed, Medline Ovid, and PsychINFO between January 1950 and January 2014. Keywords included placentophagy, placentophagia, maternal placentophagia, maternal placentophagy, human placentophagia, and human placentophagy. A total of 49 articles were identified. Empirical studies of human or animal consumption of human placentas were included. Editorial commentaries were excluded. Animal placentophagy studies were chosen based on their relevance to human practice. Ten articles (four human, six animal) were selected for inclusion. A minority of women in developed countries perceive placentophagy to reduce PPD risk and enhance recovery. Experimental animal research in support of pain reduction has not been applied in humans. Studies investigating placenta consumption for facilitating uterine contraction, resumption of normal cyclic estrogen cycle, and milk production are inconclusive. The health benefits and risks of placentophagy require further investigation of the retained contents of raw, cooked, and encapsulated placenta and its effects on the postpartum woman.
Adapting Nursing Care to Alternative Uses of the Placenta Scott, Gina M.; Gray, Valerie Rappa; Brereton, Kathy ...
Journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing,
June 2015, 2015-06-00, 20150601, Volume:
44, Issue:
s1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In our large, Mid‐Atlantic hospital, which has approximately 6500 births annually, an increasing number of women desire alternate methods to dispose of the placenta. These methods include burial and ...placentophagy (e.g., raw, cooked, or encapsulated). This presentation is an overview of how our unit is adapting to this emerging need.
To assist staff nurses on the ethical, legal, and safe way to send the placenta home with the woman, a procedure is being developed. This practice will provide the staff nurse with education on the alleged benefits of placentophagy, the significance behind the ritual of placental burial, and hospital guidelines on how to package the placenta.
We are creating a plan for this procedure. Our plan begins with revising the form for release of placenta. Next, we are designing an informative PowerPoint presentation to educate staff on alternate methods of placental disposal and the ethical sensitivity that should be expressed with this request. Staff also will receive an e‐mailed tip of the month highlighting these guidelines. Finally, a convenient location will be designated for placenta kits, including container, material, and guidelines necessary to provide this service.
With education on rituals regarding the placenta, staff nurses will feel more confident and comfortable with handling the placenta, and this comfort level will be reflected in the guidance and sensitivity they offer their patients.
Postpartum women are consuming their placentas to achieve claimed health benefits, including improved mood, energy, and lactation. Strong scientific evidence to substantiate these claims is lacking. ...Self-reported benefits from some women include improved mood and lactation; animal models suggest there may be an analgesic effect. Possible risks include infection, thromboembolism from estrogens in placental tissue, and accumulation of environmental toxins. Women's health care providers should be aware of this practice to help women make informed decisions.
Recent studies show that human placenta, processed and encapsulated for postpartum consumption, contains a host of trace minerals and hormones that could conceivably affect maternal physiology. Our ...objective was to investigate whether salivary hormone concentrations of women ingesting their own encapsulated placenta during the early postpartum differed from those of women consuming a placebo.
Randomly assigned participants (N=27) were given a supplement containing either their dehydrated and homogenized placenta (n=12), or placebo (n=15). Saliva samples were collected during late pregnancy and early postpartum. Samples of participants’ processed placenta, and the encapsulated placebo, were also collected. Hormone analyses were conducted on all samples utilizing liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry.
There were no significant differences in salivary hormone concentrations between the placenta and placebo groups post-supplementation that did not exist pre-supplementation. There were, however, significant dose–response relationships between the concentration of all 15 detected hormones in the placenta capsules and corresponding salivary hormone measures in placenta group participants not seen in the placebo group. The higher salivary concentrations of these hormones in the placenta group reflects the higher concentrations of these hormones in the placenta supplements, compared to the placebo.
Some hormones in encapsulated placenta lead to small but significant differences in hormonal profiles of women taking placenta capsules compared to those taking a placebo, although these dose–response changes were not sufficient to result in significant hormonal differences between groups. Whether modest hormonal changes due to placenta supplementation are associated with therapeutic postpartum effects, however, awaits further investigation.
Placentophagy, or the practice of placental consumption, has grown in popularity over the past decade. Although advocates endorse prevention of postpartum depression, increased breast milk ...production, reduction in postpartum bleeding, and provision of nutrients postpartum, scientific studies have failed to show benefit. No studies have explored the effect of placental hormone consumption on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis of the offspring.
We present a case of vaginal bleeding and breast budding in a 3-month-old infant whose mother was exclusively breastfeeding. Maternal history was notable for placentophagy. Upon discontinuation of consuming encapsulated placenta, the infant's vaginal bleeding resolved.
Our case raises concerns regarding placentophagy and infant endocrine function. More research is needed to assess maternal and infant exogenous estrogen exposure with maternal placental consumption.
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