Although it is a reality it is an ancient practice, in recent years placentophagy has become popular again, which is the act of ingesting the placenta after delivery. There are several ways to consume it: in shakes, in capsules as vitamins after delivery or even raw, and all of them are made due to the benefits that are believed to have for the mother.
However, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had to issue a alert about the consumption of placenta, after a baby was infected by a bacterium that was in the placenta capsules consumed by his mother.
Ingesting the placenta after birth is nothing new, however in recent years it has gained popularity due to celebrities who have declared to consume it after their children were born. This is because some sources of information claim that the placenta has many benefits for the mother after childbirth, because it is rich in iron and vitamin K, among other things.
However, the CDC recently posted on its website an alert commenting that Consuming the placenta may not only have no benefit for the mother, but it could even be dangerous for the baby. This derived from a case they witnessed at the end of last year, when a baby had a very strong infection and was finally found to be caused by a bacterium that was in the placenta of his mother, who consumed it in capsules after Your son would be born
At first the doctors could not find the reason for the baby's infection, but After knowing that the mother took her encapsulated placenta, they performed some tests and there they found that the bacteria were inside the capsules. Fortunately, after several studies and antibiotic treatment, the baby is healthy.
However, the CDC thinks the mistake was from the company that the mother hired to do the placenta encapsulation job, who probably did not perform the process properly by not heating the placenta long enough to remove the bacteria before encapsulating it and returning it to the mother.
Derived from this incident, it is that the alert was issued, in which it is mentioned that there is very little scientific evidence about the supposed benefits of the placenta and that they do not recommend that it be ingested because the processes for its consumption do not have a defined standard nor are they regulated.
