New research just published in the journal Birth has shown that placentophagy does NOT cause harm to babies.
After reviewing about 23,000 birth records, researchers Melissa Cheyney (Oregon State University) and Dan Benyshek (UNLV) found NO increased risk for newborn babies among the women who chose to consume the placenta.
This flies in the face of a recent CDC warning, which issued a blanket statement in 2017 warning women against the practice, after a single case of GBS infection. Despite there being only a single reported case in over a decade of growing use of placentophagy, and placenta encapsulation, they issued this knee-jerk reaction.
“Our findings were surprising given the recent guidelines recommending against placenta consumption,” said Daniel Benyshek, professor of anthropology at UNLV and the study’s lead author. “These new findings give us little reason to caution against human maternal placentophagy out of fear of health risks to the baby.”
Melissa Cheyney will be presenting details on this research paper at PlacentaCon on June 16, 2018. Tickets are available right now, and this is just one of nine incredible presentations by women, for birthing persons and birth professionals!
UNLV article: Study: Maternal Placenta Consumption Causes No Harm to Newborns
Research paper: Placentophagy among women planning community births in the United States: Frequency, rationale, and associated neonatal outcomes
