'Mother-Cake' - The Edible Placenta, Good For New Mothers.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 18:05

Widely known as Mother- Cake in most parts of the world.
The placenta is to be the most precious part ,when a baby is born. In most of the countries , the placenta is treated with great importance.

America, Europe, Hawaii,China and the Pacific Islands believe in eating the placenta as it helps the new mothers against postpartum depression ,increases lactation and prevents other pregnancy problems. This practice is known as placentophagy.

It is a taboo in many parts of the world to eat human body parts, but here eating the placenta is actually healthy. Uncooked human placenta has proved to be very unhealthy for it contains lot of diseases and infections like HIV , Hepatitis B, C, but studies prove that eating one's own placenta is hygienic and safe as it doesn't involve infections.

In the Western World the placenta is usually incinerated . Countries like that of New Zealand bury the placenta to formalize the relationship between humans and the earth. The placenta and the Umbilical cord is buried together if the baby dies during child birth and if the mother dies the placenta is buried in a secret place so that the mother's spirit will not come back to claim the baby's life. Its also well known fact that the placenta is considered to have a power over the baby and the parents life. Japan and Ukraine believe that the disposal of the placenta influences the parents future fertility. As per certain countries they believe that the placenta is alive often related to the baby, the deceased sibling of the new born or the friend of the baby. So in return they offer a death ritual for the placenta or traditionally planting it with a tree so that it can grow alongside the child.

Eating the placenta is not at all necessary says few of the obstetricians , for if the mother is healthy then the requirement of eating the placenta is not beneficial as it serves no purpose. The human placenta has a technical name in western medicine called, 'Placenta Pharmacology' .
Some women believe in drying, ingesting and preserving their placenta, the capsules are frozen and used even during menopause. If one is thinking about encapsulating their placenta and preserving it , make sure that is handled with care right from the moment of birth.