I’m happy to share with you all the latest research that shows no infant harm from consuming placenta, found here.

The researchers found that “mothers who consumed their placenta passed on no harm to their newborn babies when compared to infants of mothers who did not consume their placenta.” This was the largest study of its kind and entailed 23,000 families.

The new study, which examined birth outcomes and newborn risk, as well as how women consume their placentas and their motivations for doing so, contrasts a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report recommending against placentophagy.

The CDC report was based on a single case study of a baby in Oregon who may have become infected with group B Streptococcus agalactiae following maternal consumption of an infected placenta. Based on that case, the CDC recommended that placenta capsule ingestion should be avoided.

“Our findings were surprising given the recent guidelines recommending against placenta consumption, as well as the known risks of consuming uncooked or undercooked meat,” said Daniel Benyshek, a 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.”

This is a very important study as a follow-up to last year’s CDC report citing a possible correlation between placenta consumption and Group B Strep infection in an infant. The correlation was never fully proven, but nonetheless, the report shook many people’s faith in the safety of taking placenta pills. The effect of this reached far and wide, so I’m hoping this study can also make its way to families considering using placenta medicine!

For more context, please see my original post here.