Holly Willoughby Gives Her View On Eating The Placenta After Birth

Holly Willoughby Gives Her View On Eating The Placenta
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Holly Willoughby has waded in on the debate about eating your own placenta in pill form after giving birth.

The mum-of-three decided to discuss the issue after Coleen Rooney openly revealed on Twitter she would be taking placenta capsules following the birth of her third son, Kit Joseph.

Willoughby revealed she was interested in the advertised benefits of this phenomenon, which are claimed include "a healthy milk supply, prevent postnatal depression and reduce stress levels".

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"I didn’t do it with Harry or Belle. I looked at all the pros and cons of it."

Willoughby said she decided not to take the pills because she had doubts about their safety.

"The one thing that put me off in the end is that it is an unregulated business," she explained.

"So essentially unless you’re willing to chop it up and eat it there in its raw form - which is the only way I can think that it can’t be contaminated - there are lots of things that can contaminate it.

"Although it may even get contaminated after you’ve given birth, in the hospital where you’re having it."

The 34-year-old added: "For somebody to come in unregulated and take it away, store it in their fridge with other people’s placentas, how am I going to know it’s not going to get cross-contaminated that something that, as I said before, isn’t regulated?"

Her tweet divided opinion.

While some women wrote "ewwwww" and "eugh I'd never do that", other mums were a lot more positive.

"I've just done this Coleen and I swear it's helped me through," one mother wrote. "I had PND with last. And I've been great. I did the smoothie too."

Another mother wrote: "I really want to do this with my next child!".

She's not the only celebrity mum to be open about eating their placenta. In December 2015, Kim Kardashian also shared a photo of her pills after the birth of Saint West.

She wrote: "I really didn’t want the baby blues and thought I can’t go wrong with taking a pill made of my own hormones - made by me, for me."

However, in response to Kardashian's tweet, Louise Silverton, director for midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives cautioned that medical evidence does not back up claims that eating a placenta can boost a mother's health.

"There is little or no evidence around women eating their placenta," she told HuffPost UK Parents. "Indeed, there may be potential dangers in doing so, though again there is no evidence to support that either.

"As a result midwives will not advise women about eating their placenta because of this lack of evidence, and it must be the woman’s choice if she chooses to do so."

Celebs Who Ate Their Placentas
January Jones(01 of08)
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After giving birth to her son Xander in 2011, January Jones ate her placenta by turning it into pills. This is known as placenta encapsulation, where the placenta is dehydrated and eaten in the form of a vitamin capsule. According to the 37-year-old mom, eating the placenta pills helped her beat post-partum depression. (credit:Getty)
Kourtney Kardashian(02 of08)
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After giving birth to her third child in December 2014, Kourtney Kardashian posted a photo to Instagram of her placenta pills saying: “Yummy...PLACENTA pills! No joke...I will be sad when my placenta pills run out. They are life changing! #benefits #lookitup.” (credit:Getty)
Holly Madison(03 of08)
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Before giving birth in 2013, Holly Madison revealed she would eat her placenta after delivering her daughter. “This might sound gross, but I'm totally planning on having my placenta turned into pills I can take after giving birth,” the 35-year-old wrote on her blog. “I heard it helps women recover faster and I want to recover as quickly as I can!” (credit:Getty)
Tia & Tamera Mowry(04 of08)
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Tia and Tamera Mowry shared a truly unique experience together as sisters in the season finale of their reality show in 2013. In the episode, Tia ate her sister’s placenta by blending it and mixing it with brandy. (credit:Getty)
Alicia Silverstone(05 of08)
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The "Clueless" star gave birth to her son Bear Blue in 2011, but only recently revealed that she ate her own placenta following his birth. While promoting her parenting book “The Kind Mama” last year, Alicia explained, “Someone gifted me my placenta in the form of a pill. They encapsulate it. I thought that's harmless. I'll try it. And I have to tell you that I really loved it.”“I've got to the point that my husband said ‘Did you have your happy pills today?’” she continued. “And I was really sad when they were gone. It really helped me.” (credit:Getty)
Kim Kardashian(06 of08)
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While it’s unknown if Kim Kardashian really went through with eating her placenta after baby North was born in 2013, she certainly made it clear that she was interested in trying it. On an episode of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," Kim stated: “I definitely want to eat it. There's cook books of different ways you have to cook it.”Interestingly, only her older sister Kourtney was supportive of her decision. This makes sense considering Kourtney is an advocate of the practice. (credit:Getty)
Gaby Hoffman(07 of08)
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Six weeks after giving birth to her first child in November 2014, "Girls" star Gaby Hoffman spoke to People Magazine about how she got her body back in shape. She explained it was all due to eating her placenta, which boosted her energy and her milk supply.“I made smoothies out of it for three weeks,” the actress said. “I had a home birth, so my midwife and my doula took it and cut it up into 20 pieces and froze it, and every day, I put it in a blender with strawberries and blueberries and guava juice and a banana, and I drank that sh*t up.” (credit:Getty)
Mayim Bialik(08 of08)
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Mayim Bialik admitted on her blog that she has eaten her own placenta. In 2012, the mother-of-two wrote a post entitled, “You’re Not Gross!” in defense against the backlash Alicia Silverstone and January Jones were facing for their parenting choices. In the end, Mayim wrote: “I ingested my placenta. I am not a bad person, a crazy person, or a freak and neither is Alicia Silverstone or January Jones.” (credit:Getty)