Warning - You may find this disgusting - Writers Forum

roscoe · 10-31-2007, 12:54 AM

In the course of my research for a book I have come across an interesting fact.

All placental animals eat their placenta, including herbivores and insectivores. There are notable exceptions.

Camels

All primates including humans. (With some doubt over the last case here)

Eating the placenta is thought to have several beneficial qualities. e.g. It is thought to stave off post natal depression.

Human placenta has also been an ingredient in some traditional Chinese medicines.

playstation60 · 10-31-2007, 12:28 PM

I can't say that you'd ever find me doing it, but I don't think that it's disgusting. Weird, maybe.

valeca · 10-31-2007, 01:15 PM

It's actually more common than you think in humans. After the birth of my second child, I was shown pamphlets about the benefits (ie: high iron content, which the new mother is in need of) of consuming the placenta. They talked about it being ground down into a powder form and put into capsules for the less 'eeeww!' effect, and even had some recipe's for cooking, including adding it as a topping to pizza.

In the end, though, I opted to just have it sent away (as is usually done, at least here in Canada) for testing purposes.

Mallignamius · 10-31-2007, 01:52 PM

I suppose it's better than eating the newborns, as some species sometimes do.

Creator · 10-31-2007, 08:59 PM

Tell that to my hamster.

Voodoo · 10-31-2007, 09:59 PM

Not so disgusting. Pills are pills.

The image (untrue) of a bloody woman just rising up in the hospital bed and gorging on that bloody mess is pretty fucking nasty, though.

Mr Sci Fi · 11-01-2007, 09:42 AM

Yeah, I saw a documentary on the consumption of Placenta.

Tasty.

With a little Hot Sauce though, I'm down.