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Subscribe to RSSSome new moms are popping pills made from their dried, ground-up placenta as a way to ease postpartum depression, reports NBC's Renee Chenault-Fattah. Some placenta fans believe it also helps with breast milk production and regulates hormones.
But while there may be nutrients in the placenta, Pennsylvania psychiatrist Dr. Deborah Kim says new moms need to seek a medically proven treatment for something as serious as depression.
Watch the clip and let us know what you think. Would you try it?
Some women believe consuming their own placenta can ward off postpartum depression. Psychiatrist Deborah Kim, however, tells WCAU-TV's Renee Chenault-Fattah there is no scientific evidence supporting these claims.
Related:
Placenta pizza? Some new moms try old ritual
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To each her own, I suppose, but its not something I'd be willing to try.
This article illustrates major shortcomings that the FDA has introduced into the public perception of drugs in general:
1) The definition of safety has become so skewed as to be meaningless. Anyone who listens to the auctioneers reading the side effects breathlessly already knows that. "Safe" has become entirely subjective and isolated. That is, "safe" has become a relative term instead of an absolute and safety is measured without concern about interaction with other drugs. The result is that most of the drugs being approved by the FDA are NOT objectively safe.
2) The issue of efficacy is even more skewed. A drug company only has to prove that a drug is slightly more effective than a placebo. They are allowed to suppress literally hundreds of trials so long as they can produce two that show even the tiniest bit more effectiveness than a placebo. This completely ignores the facts that placebos are highly variable from person to person and from trial to trial. The placebo effect is not well understood and its opposite, the nocebo effect, is almost completely unstudied. The end result is that most drugs being approved by the FDA are NOT as effective as proposed, with at least 30% being less effective than a placebo. (And a placebo does not have side effects by definition.)
3) The one size fits all pill situation has been heavily promoted by the FDA at the behest of the drug companies. This is because it is simpler (and cheaper) for drug companies to manufacture and easier for pharmacists to dispense. The idea that a 300-lb 26-year-old defensive lineman metabolizes a drug exactly the same as a frail 115-lb 90-year-old woman is simply bizarre. A good example is SSRI's which are metabolized completely differently in teenagers than in adults and completely differently in both sub-teens and the elderly than either. This "small oversight" has killed hundreds of teenagers (including a 16-year-old cousin.) If drugs are not individually prescribed and dispensed based on weight, age, gender, and other pertinent factors, they are not correctly prescribed. This is an ongoing problem on which the drug companies have quietly spent huge amounts of lobbying money.
The FDA is run by physicians who have no expertise, training, skills, or comprehensive knowledge that would allow them to design, conduct, or evaluate clinical trials. They, therefore, depend entirely on the drug companies for these skills. It is a little like a cow depending on a rancher to provide for a long life. Of these physicians over 80% refuse, though required by law to do so, their financial connections to the for-profit medical industry. Of the 20% who have divulged this information, well over half are "dirty."
And we wonder why the drug industry attreacts every crackpot and shyster and conspiracy theorist and criminal around?
Soylent Green is people!
I did it after my second child's birth, and I totally believed it helped. It certainly didn't hurt.
Why is this considered so odd? I can't think of a single mammal that doesn't eat the placenta after giving birth. Why would we be any different. Plus it's not like anyone is just saying "Ya stick this gross, bloody thing in your mouth." It's in a pill.
because i'm not a dumb animal, i'm a woman. ew... i didn't even want to see it, let alone eat something made from it.
Your baby was made from it...
Sad. It is the thing that keeps your baby alive. The placenta is an amazing organ, and animals do not eat it because they are hungry or dumb, but because it is instinct that saves them from the long healing period post partum that Humans force themselves through. It works, you manufactured it in your own body. It is CUSTOM MADE medicine. Ask anyone who has actually done it...especially those who have suffered PPD with their first, and taken placenta with their second. They will tell you it is night and day. Do what works.
I did this and it was very helpful. I had terrible postpartum depression with my first child. I have been taking anti-depressants and used encapsulated placenta as a supplement with my second baby and it really made a difference. I could totally tell on the days I forgot to take it. Besides, whats the difference between eating this and let's say, liver? Animal is animal.
Newsflash, su: we're all animals, unless you're some sort of reproductive automaton. I find the placenta to a fascinating organ. If consuming it helps to ease post-partum depression, especially that of the typical "baby blues" variety (not the kind that makes you want to murder people) , I have no problem with a new mother eating it.
It won't be long before the crazy fundamentalists start holding up signs that say "cannibalism". Are we sure they don't consider it murder? Idiots, all of 'em.
Consuming any part of a human is cannibalism. Call me a crazy fundamentalist:}
Can placenta pills ward off postpartum blues?
Can eating excrement help constipation?
Com'on... it's just a placebo!
I was thinking it might have a placebo effect too
Maybe it's a placebo, but it also could be the hormones in it. I believe post partum depression is due in part to a sudden drop in hormone levels after delivering the baby and placenta. I've had two babies though, and I wouldn't take the pills. Then again, I didn't have post partum depression, so who knows?
It's excellent with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
I guess if panda bears do it, it must be good for you, panda bears know everything.
Clearly, Chuck, you are the expert-we should all be so lucky to be your offspring.
Sue-I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but humans are actually animals. Shocking, I know. As for the claim of intelligence-that can be debated.
Of course there's no scientific research to back up the claims of it's benefits or risks...because there have been NO valid studies done on it.
The majority of us are completely fine with eating meat, drinking another animal's milk (fyi-humans are the only species that seek out another mammal's milk). Plastic surgery, botox, vaccines, OTC & prescription medications, cheese whiz, implants, tattoos, dermal piercings, etc....all these things are normal and accepted, but taking a placenta and putting it into pill form is shocking? Do you people have any clue as to what's in those vaccines? Or what's in the food you eat-like hot dogs and hamburgers? Oh the hypocrisy.
God bless 'merica.
Or . . . they could take glyconutrients.
Yeah, I eat meat and drink cow's milk, but I'm not under the delusion that it cures anything.
I don't think eating placenta is any more shocking than any of the other stupid fads/new-agey things people do.
This really doesn't compare to a lot of things in weirdness. One of the most popular hormone replacement therapies was PREMARIN, made from, ready for it, PREgnant MARe urINe. Nummers!
I had terrible postpartum depression with my first child. Because I was concerned about the safety of medication while breastfeeding, I suffered through my depression until it went away (almost 2 years later) rather than take a prescription. If I have a second child and have postpartum depression again (which is likely), I will definitely give this a try.
The psychiatrist in the video misuderstood that placenta pills are not used to TREAT postpartum mood disorders, they are used to hopefully prevent them from occuring.
Postpartum 'blues' (baby blues) are relatively common in postpartum women, and occur in the first days and weeks following birth. Placenta pills are usually taken in the first weeks after birth, and have been reported by many women (including the woman in this video) to be helpful for that.
Postpartum mood disorders are less common, but not rare, affecting 15-20% of American women. These disorders typically surface weeks after the birth. They include depression, anxiety, irritability, difficulty bonding or caring for their baby, feeling out of control or overwhelmed. Many of these symptoms appear in mild forms during the postpartum period, but for women with a postpartum mood disorder, they are debilitating, and affect her ability to do everyday functions. Fathers and other partners can also suffer from postpartum mood disorders. For women who have had postpartum mood disorders with a previous birth, taking placenta pills has prevented it from recurring after subsequent births.
There is no formal scientific research yet on placenta pills (two studies are underway in the United States today), but a huge body of anecdotal information is being formed by the hundreds of women who are taking them. If it's placebo - yay! - what better, risk-free way to prevent these debilitating disorders?
The people who prepare postpartum pills (called placenta encapsulators) do not tell women to take placenta pills instead of seeking medical care if postpartum depression occurs. For women who are seeking an alternative to drugs, they will try this as a preventative measure, and seek professional help (therapy, drugs, nutrition, etc.).
I hope this helps some of you understand why women are trying this, and the responsible way in which the service is being provided to postpartum women.