Eating Placenta Has No Proven Health Benefits, Researchers Confirm

Eating the placenta might be trendy but there's not any scientific evidence that it protects against depression, pain or has any other benefit.

According to Northwestern Medicine review that considered 10 current published research studies on placentophagy, there's not any human or animal data to support the common claims that eating the placenta, raw or cooked, offers protection against postpartum depression, reduces post-delivery pain, boosts energy, helps with lactation, promotes skin elasticity, enhances maternal bonding or replenishes iron in the body.

Notably, it might have unknown risks to women and babies.

"There are a lot of subjective reports from women who perceived benefits, but there hasn't been any systematic research investigating the benefits or the risk of placenta ingestion,' said corresponding study author Dr. Crystal Clark in the press release. 'The studies on mice aren't translatable into human benefits."

"Our sense is that women choosing placentophagy, who may otherwise be very careful about what they are putting into their bodies during pregnancy and nursing, are willing to ingest something without evidence of its benefits and, more importantly, of its potential risks to themselves and their nursing infants," added lead author Cynthia Coyle, a Feinberg faculty member and a psychologist.

The study has been published in the journal Archives of Women's Mental Health.