Is Placenta Encapsulation Dangerous?

I've had three families cancel placenta encapsulation this month. It's totally up to you if you want to have placenta pills and I don't pressure clients, but it seemed like a pattern, so I started to wonder. Finally, someone sent me the screenshots that they took when they started to do their own searching. Aha! The new AI search function had my answers.

The internet is already a wild place with lots of opinion instead of fact, a lot of misinformation, and it seems that AI is here to make it just a little bit worse. I won't even get into the egregiously high use of water that is required for AI...

Please be careful when reading AI search results. Even Google is posting that this function is experimental and not meant to give accurate information. Just like any other AI, you might get "hallucinations" or "context handling errors." I mean, look what you get if you search "smoking in pregnancy:"

To be very clear: any amount of smoking during pregnancy is harmful

When you search for placenta encapsulation, you can fall down all sorts of rabbit holes. A common scenario is that a pregnant person will want to consume their placenta, but then their partner or sister or mom searches the practice and gets really scared. I feel sad that some people who want to have pills on hand in case of low milk supply or postpartum depression get talked out of it, especially when most people's concerns are related to internet searches that don't give the whole picture.

According to Google AI, Placenta encapsulation is dangerous and should be avoided, but the American Pregnancy Association says something very different:

There are a number of proposed benefits to the custom, and limited risks if the placenta is stored properly and only ingested by the gestational parent.

Consuming placenta is essentially like consuming a meat product, so storage and preparation safety concerns are addressed in the same way that you would treat food safety: by keeping the placenta properly stored at food safe temperatures until it is prepared and then by properly heating the placenta all the way through above 140F. Read more about this process.

People are often grossed out by the thought of placenta consumption, even though many mammals do it. Robin Lim, author of Placenta: The Forgotten Chakra, notes that in her practice the people most repulsed by placentophagy are the ones who have never given birth. Placenta is a high quality meat, packed with protein, minerals, and hormones. It makes sense to me that animals who have to hunt and gather their own food wouldn't waste such a high quality meal. Plus, the benefits may include increased milk supply and improved mood.

According to Cornelia Enning, a German midwife who has studied the sociology and anthropology of birth and placentas, ingesting the placenta for medicinal purposes postpartum has been practiced for generations all over the world.(1) Placentophagy is an old practice in both Chinese and Vietnamese culture. What are the risks of placenta encapsulation? How do you navigate a practice that is seen as trendy, but has been around a long time? Let's look at some of the biggest concerns:

FDA doesn't regulate placenta encapsulation

It's true, the FDA does not regulate placenta encapsulation. Most placenta encapsulators aren't big companies processing thousands of placentas, which is what the FDA specializes in regulating. The FDA is doing things like making sure that there are no radioactive components in your food. Note that the FDA does not regulate any vitamins, minerals, herbs, or dietary supplements.

When you are choosing someone to encapsulate your placenta, you want to ensure that they have taken courses in blood born pathogens, food safety, and actual placenta encapsulation. Placenta encapsulation includes storing and processing the organ at food safe temperatures to eliminate any bacteria, virus, or infection. Placenta encapsulation is different than consuming your placenta raw.

The CDC has issued a warning against taking placenta pills

This is also true. However, it is based on one very specific case. A person had Group B Strep (GBS) and chose to still take placenta pills that had been prepared outside of food safe guidelines. Then, her baby got sick. Then, she kept taking the pills. APPA maintains that placentas are safe to consume even if you test GBS positive. There is only a concern if you have a GBS infection. Read more about placenta encapsulation and GBS infection from APPA.

If pregnant people avoided interventions based on one person's negative outcome, oh my! Epidurals, cesareans, nursing, and even vaginal births would all be considered unsafe. The CDC also warns against co-sleeping, a practice common around the world. And remember in 2020 when the CDC said that masking doesn't help prevent Covid? The CDC has an uneven track record, to put it mildly.

All of these regulatory bodies are offering guidelines. You as a parent then learn about these guidelines and decide what is right for your family. Each person has a different risk profile. For some, one sick baby is too risky and enough to completely rule out placenta encapsulation. For others, ensuring safe handling of their placenta will be enough to help them feel secure in their decision making.

There's no research to indicate that eating your placenta is beneficial

Again, true. Yet studies have confirmed that modest amounts of iron and modest amounts of hormones are found in the placenta. There just isn't research yet to link whether those minerals and hormones have an effect on postpartum outcomes. No one is scrambling to figure out if an organ that is freely produced and fully owned by a birthing person might help them avoid additional medical interventions later on.

Part of the reason that postpartum is so tough is the absolutely massive hormone drop (the largest at any point in the human life cycle, including puberty and menopause). So we can reasonable assume that the modest amounts of hormone replacement found in the placenta might be helpful to ease that hormone drop.

In more rural places in the world where they don't have ready access to medications to stop postpartum bleeding, practitioners regularly feed pieces of placenta to people to help slow and stop bleeding. I am all about science and don't want to get all conspiracy theorist on you, but ask yourself, why isn't there more research on placenta encapsulation? Who stands to benefit from a self-made organ that can potentially help alleviate postpartum depression? Do pharmaceutical companies have anything to lose?

My doctor does not recommend encapsulating my placenta

screen shot from a Google search sent to me by a client

Doctors make all kinds of suggestions and recommendations based on their own worldview and biases. For example, many doctors in the US recommend induction at 39 or 40 weeks even when there is no medical indication. That's a whole other complicated topic, but my point is that many doctors don't recommend placenta encapsulation because they have a bias or don't know anything about it.

Doctors are experts, and we want to ask for their advice, but keep in mind what their specialties are. Most doctors catching babies are OB/GYNs. They are skilled surgeons who are best at using medical tools to deliver babies in an operating room. Most haven't observed an undisturbed or unmedicated labor, ever. When someone bleeds postpartum, they use Pitocin and other medicines to get that bleeding to stop. Thank goodness for modern medicine - I'm not knocking it! I'm just reminding you that doctors have a specific worldview and skillset, one that typically doesn't include any "alternative" therapies.

Also note that many doctors view the placenta as a problematic part of pregnancy that begins "dying" near the end of gestation. Placentas often get blamed for complications like hypertension and postpartum hemorrhage so they aren't exactly doctors most favorite organ. If your doc sees the placenta as a nuisance, they aren't going to be open to hearing about the benefits.

Have you asked a midwife for their opinion? Midwives are often placenta nerds, excited to give you a tour of your placenta after your baby is born. Most of the books we have about the placenta and preserving the traditions of placenta encapsulation are written by midwives. If you're on the fence, it might be worth giving your local birth center or midwife a call to see what they think.

Does the placenta contain toxins?

The placenta regulates the passage of nutrients from gestational parent to baby, sort of like a filter. So some people are concerned that the placenta contains things like heavy metals or toxins. There have been some studies that measured the amount of heavy metals found in placentas: all of those amounts are considered well within the range of safe.

A study that just published this year showed that microplastics are found in placentas, and, since we are likely eating up to a credit cards worth of plastic each week, this area of study will probably continue to grow. Navigating the presence of microplastics in just about everything that we consume is overwhelming. This is another area where you will need to gather information and make an informed decision for yourself and your family.

What are the known side effects?

If you go looking for side effects, you will find them. For literally ANY medication or supplement. Have you ever read the side effects for hormonal birth control? Fucking terrifying.

When I trained to encapsulate placentas, I was taught that sometimes people experience an excess of energy when they take too many placenta pills, which often shows up as jitteriness, headaches, or dizziness. All they have to do is lower their dose (or stop completely) and the symptoms go away.

The beauty of ingesting something that your own body created, is that you aren't introducing anything new or harsh to your system.

I understand that when you look up placenta encapsulation, some of the information can be scary. My advice to you is:

1. Talk placenta encapsulation through with a trusted support person, like a partner, or a friend who has done placenta encapsulation. Share this article with them.

2. Talk to your provider. Try asking both a more mainstream medical professional (OB/GYN, nurse) and someone more familiar with physiological birth (midwife, doula).

3. Be careful not to ask leading questions when you are searching for more information. Try general searches like "placenta encapsulation" rather than "benefits of placenta encapsulation" or "side effects of placenta encapsulation." You'll be more likely to get a balanced opinion.

4. Consider your own history with mental health and whether or not your are high risk for postpartum mood and anxiety disorders or low milk supply.

5. Read some of the articles and books listed in the resources below. The books are part of my collection and available for clients to borrow!

No matter what you decide, you deserve to have all the information you need to make an informed choice.

Resources:

https://mommymadeencapsulation.com/benefits/

https://americanpregnancy.org/healthy-pregnancy/first-year-of-life/placental-encapsulation/

https://evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-on-placenta-encapsulation/

https://hsc.unm.edu/news/2024/02/hsc-newsroom-post-microplastics.html

Placenta: The Gift of Life by Cornelia Enning

Placenta: The Forgotton Chakra by Robin Lim