Two questions I get asked most often:
1) “The placenta is a filter, so aren’t you just ingesting all those toxins?”
2) “Even if the placenta does contain good things, you’re just destroying them with the processing.”
I am very pleased to report that the answer to both of those questions is “NO”.
The latest research from the UNLV Placentophagy Research Team is in pre-press and will be published soon. The trace minerals project has shown that many trace minerals are retained in the placenta post-processing (per the PBi method, which is the method studied), and that any harmful toxins that are present are in sufficiently low levels as to not cause harm to the women ingesting the capsules.
Based on the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for lactating women, the recommended daily intake of placenta capsules would provide, on average, 24% RDA for iron, 7.1% RDA for selenium, 1.5% RDA for zinc, and 1.4% RDA for copper. The mean concentrations of potentially harmful elements (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, uranium) were well below established toxicity thresholds.
This is great news for mothers who want to utilize the placenta for postpartum recovery!
Source: Human Placenta Processed for Encapsulation Contains Modest Concentrations of Fourteen Trace Minerals and Elements, Young, et.al.