There's a Time and a Placenta

It's a subject I hoped to never write about again, but thanks to our friend Kim Kardashian, I'm back talking about 'placentophagy' - otherwise known as eating your own placenta. Yum yum!

It's a subject I hoped to never write about again, but thanks to our friend Kim Kardashian, I'm back talking about 'placentophagy' - otherwise known as eating your own placenta. Yum yum!

That's right, the unthinkable act of eating your own organ has become quite a 'thing' in recent years, thanks to the endorsement of some pretty hardy celebrities.

I mean whatever next - we'll be drinking our own urine...

Some like it cooked, fried or baked - others take the more palatable approach of freeze-dried pills. And spearheading the trend is of course Ms Kardashian West.

But there's clearly an 'appetite' for it (sorry) since the weird wide web has pages dedicated to placenta recipes, if you look hard enough. Can it really be that appetising? Apparently so...

Kim is not alone, there's a growing legion of celebrity Mums all too willing to get Hannibal on their placenta, from Mayim Bialik (Big Bang Theory) to Alicia Silverstone and even January Jones.

Of course, it's not the first time Kim has succumb to the post-partum pill. She tried it first with baby North and claimed that it helped both her energy levels and mental wellbeing.

She recently said; "I definitely had to do it again. Every time I take a pill, I feel a surge of energy and feel really healthy and good. I totally recommend it for anyone considering it!"

Well good for you Kim, really. But there's no way in the world you'd catch me trying it out. Least of all because it feels somewhat cannibalistic and second of all because I see no appeal in eating my son's battery pack that lived inside my womb. But most importantly, because there's just not enough medical evidence to support it.

Sure you can take Kim's word for it - at $2.99 a month on her app (more on that later), but until the NHS tell me in writing, that it's ok and makes an actual difference, I'll be sticking to my jelly vitamin tablets which taste nice and have smiley faces on!

If I haven't put you off (and I don't mean to), then for the humble price of £150 for a jar, you too can have your placenta freeze dried and made into pills.

This is of course nothing new. I wrote about the trend on my blog months ago - it turned out to be one of the most controversial and well-read posts I've had. But almost everyone who commented, either on the post or on social media, found it a revolting thought.

So, second time around, it was no surprise that the public once again shared their dislike for it. In fact, I rather enjoyed some of the comments I received after sharing Kim's tweet, including...

"Placenta pills are for wimps, I ate mine straight from the womb" @stolensleep

and

"Sorry but WTF??? Each to their own, but this is horrible imo. I've seen it once, I don't want to see it again." @jay_bee84

But what's more sinister than eating your own organ I hear you say? Oh, there's more - if you want to find out all the gritty details, you have to subscribe to Kim's app for $2.99 a month - that's right a month, not a year. She's certainly no Saint, and she's definitely no fool - all she needs is 78 people to subscribe for a month and the pills pay for themselves!

But as always, I like the public to have the last word. So in a mini poll I hosted on Twitter to see if people would or wouldn't eat their placenta, I was comforted to see that the vast majority (87%) said 'hell no!"....

As ever I admire Kim for being the trendsetter she is, but on this occasion I'd rather not have my placenta and eat it thanks.

Sophia is the Editor of leading parenting blog The Milk Drunk Diary - you can follow her at @milkdrunkdiary on Twitter. Facebook and Instagram.

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