Irish firm turns mums’ placentas into capsules
Edible trend said to boost energy and aid recovery after birth
TWO businesswomen are helping new mothers to recover from birth and embrace motherhood by turning their placentas into edible capsules.
It has become popular for women to eat the organ that develops in their uterus in a pregnancy, amid claims that it can ward off anaemia, help increase milk supply, balance hormones and increase energy.
Lisa Cotter and Trish Carroll, who are trained Placenta Encapsulation Specialists, are behind Cork firm Placenta TLC.
Ms Carroll said that the company provides expectant mothers with a chillpack before they give birth, and then said they collect the placenta from new mothers before turning the organ into some 150 capsules in a lab, with mothers taking four to six capsules a day.
‘We have our own purpose built labs where we take the placenta – it’s prepared there, it’s washed and diced and put into a dehydrator for 14 to 16 hours and then we take it out and it’s blended into a fine powder and then the capsules are handmade with a little machine,’ Ms Carroll said.
‘The benefits that women report to us is first of all energy. Women will say they feel they have loads of energy even though they’re up in the night – they’ll have the dinner on, the house cleaned. Some people describe them as Red Bull.’
Ms Carroll added that women also report an increase in iron levels, and claims that the hormones in the placenta reduces symptoms of baby blues.
‘We would have had clients who wouldn’t have done it with their first or second baby and would have had postnatal depression, and then they do it on the next pregnancy and they don’t report postnatal depression once they do encapsulation.
‘You get a plateau rather than a dip, and people will say their milk comes in quicker, their bleeding actually stops quicker as well. Your wounds seem to heal quicker.’
While the concept may make some people’s stomach turn, she insists that ingesting the capsules are just like taking any other tablet.
‘When you get to capsules you don’t see anything. The midwife bags up [the placenta] and it’s gone, so the mums don’t see the placentas, and then when you get it back it’s in a lovely little package and there just like multivitamin capsules that you get in a health shop. There’s no taste so, there’s no gross factor.’
Placenta TLC collects and delivers nationwide, and prices vary depending on location, starting at a fee of €220. The price includes a chill pack, collection, capsules and delivery either by hand or post on day three after a birth.
The company claims the trend is on the rise and they have even provided the service to well-known mums, including Síle Seoige, who said: ‘I had a good supply of milk during those crucial first weeks, my energy levels were good considering, my mood was steady – at least I think so – and my skin, hair and nails were good too.’
‘Women get lots of energy from it’