Ever Hear Of This?

[lizbud]

No Thanks, not for me.



Originally posted: May 31, 2007

Mom wants to eat placenta
Mother goats do it. Rats do it.

But when Nevada’s Anne Swanson, 30, wanted to eat her child’s placenta after giving birth, the hospital refused to return the organ on the grounds that it contains blood and might carry infectious disease, according to a news brief in The Week.

Though mammals ingest the placenta, the disposable sac that transfers oxygen and nutrients from the mother to the baby and removes waste, humans are a bit more discriminating.

Those who do eat it generally believe it has medicinal properties such as helping with postpartum depression or other pregnancy complications. In Chinese Medicine, the placenta is known as a great life force. Last year, Hawaii became the first state to pass a law allowing hospitals to release placentas for spiritual reasons.

Swanson, who experienced postpartum depression with her first child, and planned to have it dried, ground into a powder and packed into capsules, believes she has the right to her own body part.

“To me, it was a big deal to have it, whether I was using it for medicinal reason or planting it,” she told Annette Wells in a story in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

After a baby is born, a woman’s hormonal level plunges, a situation that can lead to a serious mood crash. The belief is that the nutrient-rich placenta, which contains the hormones progesterone and estrogen, can help alleviate symptoms of depression. The problem is that like any other body part, placentas contain a lot of blood which can carry infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis.

My own doctor, Northwestern’s Abbie Roth, wasn’t wild about placenta pills or placenta pie.

“Holy Cow. Don't ever eat the placenta!!! She wrote in an e-mail. “It is horribly contaminated. I've heard of people requesting it to bury it as part of religious practice, but never to eat it! Just say no!!!”

I’m not the least bit tempted.

But I do think if you want your placenta, for whatever reason, you should be able to have it. There are no laws barring hospitals from providing placentas to patients and if she doesn’t have HIV or hepatitis, what’s the risk? Meanwhile, we let people put more troubling things in their mouths every day, including cigarettes and hot dogs.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Have heard of placenta being cooked with onions and eaten but I think I'll just have a salad........


Question: would a vegetarian be able to eat her own placenta?

[Blue_Frog]

Question: would a vegetarian be able to eat her own placenta?

I'm not sure -- i know that my sister can't digest meat protein anymore since she became a veg'tarian, so it might just them sick. From a 'not eating meat' standpoint (mentally), i guess it would have to depend on the person and their reasons for being a veg'tarian.

[Blue_Frog]

Um -- not something I would ever consider, but I think she should be able to do what she wants with it -- and about the diseases, well, it was her body doing that, so what disease will she pass from herself to herself?

Also, don't people eat blood sausage and brains and all kinds of other strange animal parts? I can't see how this would be much worse -- it looks like she was going to be making tablets anyway, its not like she was going to fry it up with some onions like a piece of liver.


EDIT: Just read Brody's Moms post -- LOL same idea about the onions

[sandragonfly]

quoted by bluefrog
-- and about the diseases, well, it was her body doing that, so what disease will she pass from herself to herself?

yeah?? I believe what she pushed out is what she already has..

although I know I never would do it, I think we should let her and see what world learns from it.

[Freedom]

Well, one of the MANY things I have learned form PT is that the mom cat eats hers and that helps start the milk flowing.

Maybe we don't know all the benefits of eating it, yet?

I've heard of people taking home their tumors, in jars, to "show off." (Don't KNOW anyone hwo did that, thankfully!) So I can see the difference!

[moosmom]

One word...

EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!

I've also heard some animals eat their young What's next???

[elizabethann]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm......interesting.

So if I ever get liposuction, I should be able to eat my own fat?

[jackie]

I've also heard some animals eat their young What's next???

HAHAHAHHAHAHHAAHAHHA!!!!! Baby back ribs!

My nest friend just gave birth and we discussed in detail all aspects of child birth, including placenta, and it grossed us both out. We are pretty opening mind (read weird freaking hippie) and both found eating placentas disgusting.

[Miss Z]

and about the diseases, well, it was her body doing that, so what disease will she pass from herself to herself?

Maybe it would be something similar to Toxic Shock Syndrome? I know that old blood and body bits are bacteria heaven, as soon as it was 'out in the open' I suppose it would become pretty putrid.

I've never heard of it happening, don't think I'l be planning on placenta for tea, I'd even rather eat the hospital food!

[crow_noir]

It's always been my belief that women should be encouraged to eat it. Hello! Vital nutrients!

What bugs me are the comments about infectious diseases. WTF?! It just came from the person who plans on eating it. If it's diseased it makes no difference because the person already has it! UGH!!! +

[Oggyflute]

And I thought that Haggis was a rough dish.

[lizbud]

And I thought that Haggis was a rough dish.

Good one Oggy

[Marigold2]

She sounds like a flipping fruit cake, good luck to her kid, he is gonna need it.

[Twisterdog]

Oh wow, that just completely grosses me out.

If one were to get his leg amputated, could he demand to take it home with him and put it in the freezer next to the Ben & Jerry's?

Placenta ... leg ... what's the difference? You "own" both of them, they are a part of your body.

Yikes.

Hamsters sometimes eat their own babies heads, too. DANG ... I should have done that when mine was young and tender. Now he's too big.