{"id":1406,"date":"2019-05-02T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bcchrtpgg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1406"},"modified":"2025-09-16T22:28:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T22:28:40","slug":"no-mental-health-benefits-to-eating-placenta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/2019\/05\/02\/no-mental-health-benefits-to-eating-placenta\/","title":{"rendered":"New research suggests no mental health benefits to eating your placenta"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eating your placenta provides no mental health benefits for new mothers, suggests new research from the\u00a0University of British Columbia<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services\u2019 Research Institute<\/a>.<\/p>

The\u00a0study<\/a>, published online today in the\u00a0Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada<\/em><\/a>, is the largest so far to look at the effects of eating one\u2019s placenta \u2014 a practice known as placentophagy. Researchers used data from a 10-year genetic study involving 138 women with a history of mood disorders and compared data on outcomes between those who had eaten their placenta and those who had not.<\/p>

\u201cWhen you ask women why they\u2019re consuming their placenta, many will say that they think it will help improve their mood in the postpartum period,\u201d said Jehannine Austin, professor in the UBC faculty of medicine, the executive director of the research institute and lead investigator of the study. \u201cBut there has been no research evidence showing that it really works, and our new study adds weight to this idea.\u201d<\/p>

Eating one\u2019s placenta following childbirth is a growing trend, with many celebrities claiming that the practice provided them with health benefits, including preventing postpartum depression. However, previous studies have shown that consuming human placenta poses risks<\/a> for mothers and their babies, including viral and bacterial infections.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Given the health risks associated with consuming your placenta, and the absence of detectable benefits, we strongly recommend women do not, and instead look to other mental wellness resources.<\/p>\t<\/blockquote>\n\t

\n\t\t– Jehannine Austin, professor in the UBC faculty of medicine\t<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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The study also showed that women who consumed their placentas did not have more energy, had no increase in their vitamin B12 levels, and required no less lactation assistance than women who consumed their placentas.<\/p>

Austin recommends that women who are concerned about postpartum depression speak with their doctor, midwife, or a public health nurse. Additionally, British Columbian women can access services through the\u00a0Pacific Post Partum Support Society<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Reproductive Mental Health program at BC Children\u2019s Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>

Credit: UBC Faculty of Medicine<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eating your placenta provides no mental health benefits for new mothers, suggests new research from the\u00a0University of British Columbia\u00a0and the\u00a0BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services\u2019 Research Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","fndry_alternate_title":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[27,28],"class_list":["post-1406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-placenta","tag-postpartum-depression"],"modified_by":"Andrea Sakamoto","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2665,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions\/2665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcchr.ca\/tgrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}