‘No benefit to mothers’ from eating the placenta after birth

Study finds no firm support for claims practice is good for post-partum health

EATING the placenta after giving birth offers no benefit to mothers, a study suggests.

Research in Nevada found the increasingly common practice of consuming capsules made from the organ in the weeks following birth did almost nothing to improve maternal fatigue or ward off depression.

The research did show that ingesting placenta capsules produced small but detectable changes in hormone concentrations, but it is not known whether this has any beneficial effect.

Advocates point to maternal placentophagy in the animal kingdom, but official bodies such as the Royal College of Midwives do not recommend it, saying there is no evidence of any benefit.

The new study involved 12 women who took placenta capsules and 15 who took placebo pills in the weeks after giving birth.

Researchers tested the efficacy of placenta capsules in promoting health benefits, including stemming the onset of post-partum “baby blues” and depression of new mothers.

The results of the study, published in the online journal Women and Birth, suggested that such claims are not clearly supported.

Women in the study who ingested the placenta capsules showed small changes in hormone concentrations.

An increasing number of private firms are offering to convert women’s placentas into capsules, some for around £200.

In 2016, the Nevada team released a study showing that consuming encapsulated placentas was not as good of a source of iron as proponents had suggested.

Professor Daniel Benyshek, the senior author, suggested that advocates and sceptics alike may take encouragement from the new results.

He said: “Placentophagy supporters may point to the fact that we did see evidence that many of the hormones detected in the placenta capsules were modestly elevated in the placenta group mums. For sceptics, it might be seen as proof that placentophagy doesn’t ‘really work’ because we did not find the type of clear, robust differences in maternal hormone levels or post-partum mood between the placenta group and placebo group that these types of studies are designed to detect.”

Last year, Coleen Rooney, wife of the former England footballer Wayne Rooney, drew attention to the practice when she tweeted images of her placenta pills.

Dr Sharon Young, the lead author, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said: “While the study doesn’t provide firm support for or against the claims about the benefits of placentophagy, it does shed light on this topic by providing the first results from a clinical trial specifically testing the impact of placenta supplements on post-partum hormones, mood and energy.”