Eating Placenta : Nutrition, Tradition or Religion?

This blog originally appeared in Food History Project as part of an assignment for Writing Food History at Boston University’s Metropolitan College

A recently passed Oregon House Bill 2612 allows post partum mothers to take their placenta home.¹  This bill prompted a post in January on National Public Radio (NPR) about placentophagy called Bundle Of Edible Joy: Why New Moms Are Bringing Their Placentas Home by Kira Kim.²  Placentophagy is the practice of a mammals eating the placenta after childbirth.   According to Kim, placentophagy is emerging in popular culture due to perceived health benefits and cultural or religious traditions.   The following is a brief investigation origins of modern day placentophagy.

The placenta is a complex organ serving as the connection between a fetus and the outside world.  All substances for a fetus’ survival either pass through or are produced in the placenta during pregnancy.³  After birth, it ceases to function as vital organ for the fetus.  As cited by Jodi Selander, et al, in a 2013 University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) study, raw placenta retains some nutritional elements such as minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and hormones after birth.³ The study stated there is ‘exceedingly little research’ on the nutritional content of cooked or prepared placenta.³  Kim, a lactation consultant, did not directly state she believed there are any health benefits of placentophagy, but  rather, she cited the claims by survey respondents.³  Respondents claim ingesting their own placenta has positive health benefits including improved postpartum moods, increased lactation and stronger mother-infant bonding.³  Respondents who did practice placentophagy commonly consumed placenta prepared in an encapsulation where placenta is dried, ground and put into gelatin caplets.³  Despite little medical research evaluating any nutritional value of raw or prepared placenta, respondents who practiced placentophagy did it because of perceived health benefits.

Beyond health benefits, Kim, as well as the Representative who sponsored the bill,  Alissia Keny-Guyer, suggest there are also cultural and religious traditions behind placentophagy.⁴  The UNLV survey did not ask respondents whether placentophagy was related to any traditional beliefs, but others have investigated the placenta’s cultural significance.  In The Placenta in Lore an Legend, E.C. Long surveys placenta related cultural traditions.   Some cultures regard the placenta as a relative, twin, double or companion of the child.   Ashinsk Siberians believe it to be a child’s sibling and sickness in the living child indicates illness in the placenta.⁵  In ancient Egypt, the placenta was portrayed in ceremonial depictions and treated as the ‘other’ of a dualistic soul. ^5,6  In other cultures, the placenta holds spiritual or magical reverence.  Long cites a Chinese medical work describing how prescribed damages to the placenta can foreshadow childhood ailments.  For example, casting the placenta into a fire causes running sores in the child.⁵

With such good and bad reverence toward the placenta, it is curious how the idea of consuming it is thought to have originated from traditional practices.  Most mammals eat their placenta with humans being an exception.^3,5,6  However, Long does cite a few examples of human placentophagy, but typically, parts of the placenta are used for specific ailments such as Austrians using placental blood to ‘remove birthmarks and scars’.⁵   William B. Ober’s Notes on Placentophagy, found few references to human placentophagy.⁶  Contrary to notion of voluntary placentophagy for religious reasons, Ober claims in the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites were threatened with being forced to eat placenta as a form of punishment.⁶

One recurring reference to human placentophagy is related to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  Kim reports her first encounter with placentophagy was through a TCM practitioner while in China.  Selander mentions the practice of ingesting non-maternal placentophagy in TCM.  Ober cites the Great Pharmacopoiea of 1596 by Li Shih-chen.  It suggests the use of the placenta to remedy ‘ch’i exhaustion’, which is described as “an ill-defined entity characterized by anemia, weakness of the extremities, and coldness of the sexual organs with involuntary ejaculation of semen.”⁶  In “The Essential Book of Traditional Chinese Medicine” by Yanchi, ‘Placenta Hominis’ is used for its restorative properties and it is prescribed for treating ailments such as fatigue, exhaustion and impotence.⁷ In all these examples, the placenta is not necessarily a mother’s own placenta that is consumed nor is it suggest specifically for postpartum ailments.^4,5,6

While claiming there is a historical precedent to placentophagy may lend credibility to its modern day practice, it appears there is not much evidence to support the claim.  The modern interpretation of this practice emphasizes the consumption of the mother’s own placenta for postpartum health benefits. However, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, which seems to be the most common application of placentophagy, it is not necessary for a mother’s own placenta to be used.  Additionally, the ingestion of a placenta is not specifically prescribed for postpartum ailments.

1. 77th Oregon Legislative Assembly – 2013 Regular Session, “Oregon Law House Bill 2612A”, Effective January 1, 2014.
2. Kim, Kira, “Bundle of Edible Joy: Why New Moms Are Bringing Their Placentas Home,: WBUR’s CommonHealth Blog, January 24, 2014, accessed January 24, 2014,  http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2014/01/why-new-moms-want-to-take-placenta-home#more-37851.
3. Jodi Selander , Allison Cantor , Sharon M. Young & Daniel C. Benyshek, “Human Maternal Placentophagy: A Survey of Self-Reported Motivations and Experiences Associated with Placenta Consumption,” Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 2013, Vol.52(2), 93-115.
4. Hammond, Betsy, “Beginning Wednesday, Oregon mothers are entitled to take their placenta home after childbirth” The Oregonian, December 28, 2013, accessed January 31, 2013, http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/12/beginning_wednesday_oregon_mot.html.
5. Long, E. Croft. “The Placenta in Lore and Legend” Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 1963, Vol.51(2), 233-41.
6. Ober, William B. “Notes on Placentophagy.”  Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 1979, Vol.55(6), 591-599.
7. Yanchi, Liu, trans. The Essential Book of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Volume 2 Clinical Practice New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.