How to deal with the placenta after giving birth? Does eating the placenta really have a miraculous health effect?

The placenta is the life support system of the fetus. It not only provides nutrition and oxygen to the fetus, but also takes away the fetus' metabolic waste. However, such an important organ that links the material exchange between the fetus and the mother has gradually become a delicacy because people believe that the placenta is a "tonic" or even a "good medicine."

So does eating the placenta really have miraculous effects?

Let's first talk about this special organ called the placenta. The placenta is the afterbirth of animals during childbirth. It usually refers to the structure formed by the connection between the chorioallantoic membrane and the uterine mucosa. The placenta plays the role of the fetus's digestive, respiratory and excretory organs, allowing the fetus to exchange gases, supply nutrition to the fetus, and excrete waste. In addition, the placenta also has endocrine functions and prevents antibodies, microorganisms, parasites and eggs in the mother's body from entering the fetus.

my country has a long history of using placenta. Traditional Chinese medicine calls it placenta. It was recorded in "Compendium of Materia Medica" that placenta is warm in nature, sweet and salty in taste, and enters the lung, liver, and kidney meridians. It has the effects of invigorating qi and blood, nourishing the kidney and improving essence.

Although ancient books recorded this, the medical conditions at that time were limited, and people did not know what substances were in the placenta. With the advancement of modern medical conditions, people have discovered that the placenta does contain a large amount of biologically active substances, such as amino acids, proteins, vitamins, mineral elements, hormones and various functional factors.

Since the placenta contains so many nutritious substances, does that mean that eating the placenta must be good for us? These most basic nutrients can be obtained from people's daily diet. In this respect, the nutritional value of the placenta is similar to that of ordinary meat.

Moreover, not everyone can supplement the estrogen and progesterone in the placenta. Although there are nutrients in the placenta, don't forget that the placenta transmits nutrients while also transmitting diseases. For example, rubella, hepatitis, AIDS, etc. can be transmitted from the mother to the fetus through the placenta. In other words, placenta products that are processed and processed through informal channels not only have limited nutritional value, but may also become a source of disease infection. It is understood that the 2015 edition of the "Chinese Pharmacopoeia" removed placenta for this reason.

In addition, researchers from Austria and the United States have stated in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that clinical research and analysis of women who eat the placenta after giving birth showed that there is no basis for the claim that the placenta can increase breast milk secretion, prevent postpartum depression and promote postpartum recovery.

Although some businesses have now made the placenta into pills or capsules, this also brings the risk of viral and bacterial infection. In 2017, a serious case of bacterial infection in a newborn occurred in the United States. The investigation showed that the newborn's mother had taken placenta capsules, and group B streptococcus was detected in the placenta capsules.

According to staff from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is very likely that the sterilization temperature or time was not high enough or long enough to kill the bacteria during the process of making the placenta into capsules, which caused the baby to be infected with the disease.

Although people have heard from various sources that placenta is good for health, this news is not true. There is no reliable health benefit to eating human placenta, but there are many potential risks. Here we also remind some people that it is not a wise move to get extra nutrition by eating placenta.

References:

Hu Minqi. Is the placenta really a "tonic"? [J]. New Countryside, 2017(9).