Slashdot Mirror
Placenta Eating Offers No Benefit To Mom
Dave Knott writes: While some celebrity moms swear by it and have made it trendy, a new study says that consuming the placenta after birth offers women and their babies no benefit. In fact, the practice — known as placentophagy — may even pose unknown risks to mothers and infants, according to a team from Northwestern University in Chicago, who pored over the accumulated research on the issue. They found no data to support that eating the placenta — either raw, cooked or in pill form — protects against postpartum depression, reduces pain after childbirth, increases a woman's energy, helps with lactation, improves mother-child bonding, replenishes iron in the body, or improves skin elasticity. The researchers also said that there are no studies examining the risks associated with eating the placenta, which acts as a filter to absorb and protect fetuses from toxins and pollutants.
Not because animals does it that it means it's good.
for the placebo effect, which may be enough to help some people. Of ourse if it has some risk, you may want to find a different placebo, like chewing on the umbilical cord :).
Oddly, Penny Arcade has this covered.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
So says the unimpeachable source of all truth.
Eat the baby too, and get *all* your nutrients back.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Why not mom?
It is, after all,
D-DAY!
Our overlords did us well. Did us well.
You are welcome, France.
Actually it has some medical effects.
The question is whether the hormonal level modifications are beneficial or not. Obviously, *cooking* the placenta would denature the proteins involved, so the way it's typically practiced among modern humans (which involves cooking) is clearly not beneficial, other than as a source of nutrients and heavy metals.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
... they need to conceal their where about, to leave no trace of their young ones from being hunted down
As for humans ... they are simply stupid
Yes, this is gross. It also doesn't matter if there is any "evidence" - the type of people who engage in this nonsense don't respond to evidence (Madonna raw gluten-free vegan types, etc.)
...after thousands of years of getting out of the trees, getting away from the savanna, getting out of the caves, civlization, tool-making, science and culture ? Disappointing, to say the least.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
The placenta is an organ of the baby, so eating it you're technically speaking eating part of another human. Its pretty seriously fucked up.
Really? And this is surprising to who?
Not everything that can be measured matters; Not everything that matters can be measured.
Fava beans and a nice chianti, people!
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Don't slag it off. Think about the husbands. And the joy they feel when the nutcase they fell in love with performs this revolting rite.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
What more is there to say?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
grounds for full sole legal custody - no questions asked!
I was going to point out that pregnant women often have hemorrhoids, and why not make nutritional use of those as well, letting others deal with the ew factor...
The Article mentions Doulas, a new word to me. To put it kindly, a Doula is a paid Assistant during the Birthing Process, whose main job seems to be to offer emotional support, and recipes. They are not allowed to deal with _any_ medical issues, as they aren't required to have _any_ medical training. (Midwives are quite different. Not my cup of tea, but I see their worth.)
The word "Doula" goes back to the ancient Greeks, and means "Female Slave". The word has a long history in the Birthing Cultures, going as far back as... 2002. "Doula" has never had any association with Birthing in Greece, Ancient or Modern. So it is made-up.
Doulas are largely crackpots or frauds. Often both.
I mentioned Doula "Recipes" above. Only those with cast-iron stomachs should do a Google search on these. My least favorite has to be the "Strawberry Banana Placenta Smoothie".
Straight-out weasel wording, your sign that there is no information here, let alone "news for nerds". Or did placenta-eating become a nerd thing while I wasn't looking? /hands in nerd card
This is far too subjective. If the mother enjoys eating placenta with some fava and a nice chianti, then I argue that she benefitted from having nice meal.
I was all set with my Placenta Energy Drink. I even had investors (I told 'em it'd cure your diabetes). GNC had signed up.
Damn scientists, checking things.
"may even pose unknown risk"
Well that is a throw away statement. You can say that about any thing, any time, any place.
This is why people do not trust scientist. It is because they honestly can go out, look for funding. Receive funding, then take their time and effort to conduct a scientififcally peer reviewed scientific study to determine scientifically that there is absolutely no scientific benfite to the health of the mother of eating her placenta. But scienfically speaking it MAY cause harm. It is also possible that that toe nail fungus MAY be a lot smarter than non scientist think it is. It is also possible that my pillow MAY be too soft. It is possible that my keyboard MAY be sticky because it MAY be covered in sperm. It is possible that pouring acid onto lawn grass may cause it harm. I guess all to money ran out on the climate change band wagon, so the new field of scientific inquiry is placenta eating. I miss the good old days when scientist studied things like how the heart worked.
Livers, kidneys. People eat filters all the time.
Yeah, people started doing that back in the way back. Maybe it's time to stop now that we are releasing lots of bioaccumulatives.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Placentas. Is there nothing they can't do?
... is crunchy and goes good with ketchup.
Oh wait, that me the dragon was talking about right before I managed to get away. Forgive me for mis-remembering, it was a very busy and not-very-pleasant day.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
How about this benefit: you can say to your child: "If you don't settle down, I will eat you. I have done it before."
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
. . . plain old nutritional benefits, that is.
The crushing smugness as you preen around the other plebeian Moms who obviously don't care enough about their children is the benefit.
(This is a joke, yet not a joke).
Ok, so I just want to clarify here. I have no feeling one way or the other about this activity.
They are saying that there is no KNOWN benefit to this practice and there COULD BE bad consequences.
So how is that different than saying that there COULD BE benefits but there are no KNOWN bad consequences?
Aren't they really just reporting "We don't know one way or the other"? Except, as usual, the reporting has a slant injected into it.
We should learn what we need to know about issues, before we decide what we need to feel about them.
RE: We also eat bottom feeders.
Two Girls One Cup
So, how do these women eat their placentas?
Raw? Battered and deep fried? Minced into a bolognese pasta sauce? In lasagnas? On pizzas? In saussages?
How?
rooted in nonsense. it's new age junk science posing as biological imperative. These people are rancidly stupid with more money than sense.
See subject "Forrest" & this -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
See subject "Forrest" & this -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
See subject "Forrest" & this -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
I always thought that consuming the placenta was to reduce the likelihood that you and your newborn would be detected by a nearby predator. Was that part of the study?