When Holly Stevens was preparing for the birth of her daughter in March, among the socks and slippers in her hospital bag were two things she knew she mustn’t forget: a Tupperware box and a cool-bag. The items were part of a £300 “placenta kit” she had bought online from a “placenta encapsulation specialist”, to safely store the organ after delivery.
The kit was then collected by a courier and taken to a lab, where it was steamed, dehydrated and ground to powder before being packed into pills and returned. While the thought of ingesting a placenta — a temporary organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy to provide oxygen and nutrients to the baby while filtering out waste — may fill many people with horror, the practice has become increasingly popular in this country. Companies offer everything from gummies and pills to smoothies.
Holly Stevens says friends saw her use of baby Violet’s placenta as “a bit hippy”
As with many wellness trends, celebrities and social media have a large part to play: Kim Kardashian, Coleen Rooney and Chrissy Teigen are among those who have spoken about the supposed benefits of consuming their placenta after childbirth, which include preventing postnatal depression, improving mood, energy and milk supply, and providing nutrients such as iron.
Last week the British DJ Calvin Harris sent social media into a frenzy when he and his wife, the television presenter Vick Hope, announced the birth of their son on Instagram. Why? Because among the photos of the baby and a birthing pool were images of the placenta and the process of it being turned into capsules.
Calvin Harris and Vick Hope announced the birth of Micah last week
The reaction was mixed. “Thank you for sharing your beautiful images with the world of physiological birth at home and your beautiful organ!” one fan said. Another asked: “Is he cooking the placenta? Is it like cannibalism???”
There is no substantial research to support the claim that eating your placenta is good for you but that has not stopped the industry from booming. “I first heard about placenta encapsulation from my sister-in-law: she’d spoken very positively of the benefits,” says Stevens, 42, who received 360 capsules and was advised to take three a day. “My friends thought it was a bit hippy of me but I was drawn to the idea of having more energy during postpartum recovery and supporting my milk supply.” Stevens is convinced that it paid off.
Helen Wright, 46, a former assistant head teacher in Nottinghamshire, trained in hypnobirthing and “placenta education” in 2016 after having her first child. She is now known as “the placenta lady” and sells everything from £325 placenta capsules (“steamed over organic lemon, ginger and chilli”) to a placenta smoothie (blended with strawberries, raspberries, banana and fresh orange juice for £125), facial oil (£65) and placenta artwork (from £85, with the option to add a gold leaf finish). Her clientele, she says, extends across the country and ranges from celebrities, influencers and athletes to shopkeepers, teachers and personal trainers.
The most common motivation cited on her booking form, she says, is “wanting help with postnatal recovery and hormones after birth”. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Food Standards Agency classifies placenta products as food, so companies selling them are regulated as food businesses. They must be registered with their local authority’s environmental health office and comply with food hygiene and safety regulations to protect public health. Wright encourages people to book her service by week 37 of their pregnancy, but says she often gets “calls from dads while their wife is in labour” because the couple have made a last-minute decision to encapsulate the placenta.
A woman who had been keeping her placenta in her mother-in-law’s fridge for two years recently got in touch and asked if Wright could still use it for pills.“People holding onto their placenta is more common than you’d think, but I can’t guarantee it’s been stored safely,” she says, “so I offered to make her some placenta art or a homeopathic remedy instead.”
Placenta encapsulation is only one part of a wider shift towards so-called holistic practices in childbirth. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex listened to Sanskrit songs in the delivery room when their son Archie was born, and people are turning umbilical cords into framed artwork, bringing crystals into the delivery room “for spiritual protection” and burning essential oils during labour.
Helen Wright provided this example of art made from a client’s umbilical cord
THE PLACENTA LADY
As part of her service, Wright takes photographs of the placenta and “asks the family if they would like to see it. I always tell my clients to allow time within their birth plan to look at the placenta and marvel at it.” Dads often ask her if they can take the placenta remedies too, something she doesn’t advise, “as it prevents the mother from fully benefiting from her remedies”. Instead, she asks clients to sign a form agreeing that only the mother will ingest the products. Most placenta encapsulation specialists acknowledge the lack of firm evidence, lauding the potential holistic ones instead. At worst, they think the effects could be a placebo.
Medical professionals, however, warn that much of this is exploitative. “New mothers are vulnerable. Having children is scary and there isn’t a great deal of medical support for postnatal depression and anxiety, so women will often turn to complementary therapies,” says Dr Anita Mitra, a consultant gynaecologist. She emphasises that “there is no solid evidence that placenta encapsulation helps milk supply” and believes “hormone balance has become a bit of a wellness marketing buzzword”. Mitra believes women should be cautious.
“The placenta is essentially a filter for waste products during pregnancy, so while it does contain iron, there’s risk of other metals such as lead and mercury being in there too,” she says. “We don’t know how safe these pills are to ingest over time.”
Though rare, there is also risk of infection, as bacteria and viruses can live in the placenta. In the US in 2017 a baby was hospitalised with a strep B infection. Clinicians believe it was contracted via the mother’s breast milk after she consumed placenta pills contaminated with bacteria.
“People tend to believe that because the placenta is natural, that makes it automatically safe,” Mitra says. “This isn’t always the case.”