While it may sound strange to some, approximately one-third of women giving birth at home choose to eat their own birthplace placenta. They believe this is good for their mental health, energy and milk production.
This practice is known as Placentophagy and has received a boost from Millie Mackintosh (32) who, a former Made In Chelsea star is planning on eating her placenta once her baby girl is born within the next few weeks.
According to the confectionary heiress Sienna who has already a daughter of one year, she announced last week that her intention was for her placenta to be made into pills. This follows Coleen Rooney’s footsteps and Kim Kardashian.
In the 1970s, natural birth supporters introduced the idea of eating placenta. It can be eaten in smoothies, cooked or in capsules. Is science supporting this?

Millie Mackintosh 32 is a former Made In Chelsea actress and plans to have her placenta eaten after the birth of her daughter in the next few days. Last week, the confectionary heiress announced that her plan to make pills from her placenta after she has given birth to Sienna (a daughter of Coleen Rooney, and Kim Kardashian).
Placenta is the organ that transfers oxygen and nutrients to the baby from mother’s blood supply through the umbilical chord. This complex organ is high in hormones such as progesterone and oxytocin, human placental milkogen, oestrogen and oxitocin. It may also aid in the production of breastmilk, vitamins B6-E, and stem cell growth.
However, the doses of these hormones and nutrients — and the extent to which they are degraded by cooking or dehydrating — are not known.
In 2012, research on animals showed that placenta-eating mammals bond with their children better. The mother who eats her placentas also has a lower pain threshold.
In 2017, a new study published in Women and Birth found that placenta-taking women experienced small increases in their hormone levels, such as oestrogen and estrogen. This may have helped to reduce rapid drops in these hormones following birth.
Researchers in Nevada, the U.S. found that placentas did not improve or prevent depression in mothers.
In a new study, published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynacology Canada in 2019, data was analyzed from 138 women suffering from depression during pregnancy. The results showed that postnatal depression is not more common for those who ate placenta. There were no improvements in mood, energy, or milk production.
For those who do choose this route, you can find multiple sites that will show you how to transform your placenta to cook a variety of foods and snacks.
You can also call professionals who will take the placenta (chilled) right away after birth. Placenta remedies specialists must be licensed by their local council to work as food handlers. Then they wash the placenta thoroughly before making it into medicines.
Waverley Borough Council approved Carly Lewis as a specialist in placenta treatments to use her kitchen. The Placenta Remedies Network is her chair, and she represents 59 professionals around the globe.
“I saw the impact that placenta medicines can have upon women within the same period as birth,” she said. “The difference was immense and the effect was incredible.”
Women with infection must throw out their placentas. Following a 2016 case in the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning regarding placentas after a mother who had consumed placentas contaminated with bacteria.
While raw placenta juice smoothies can be considered to have the strongest remedies, an analysis of forums in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2020 found that the most commonly consumed method is eating placenta capsules.
To turn it into pills, the placenta is steamed and dried, before being used to fill capsules — this costs around £250.
Mike Bowen is a Welsh-based consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist. He suggests that although midwives in the NHS are used to working with expecting mothers who bring their placentas home from hospital, there are too many “what ifs” to support this practice.
And do Mick’s light therapy sunglasses actually work?
Was that what Sir Mick Jagger was wearing from the Miami hotel balcony? One morning prior to the end of the final tour, the Rolling Stones singer was seen in futuristic light therapy glasses.
Some thought he was trying to banish the winter blues — light therapy can ease Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) — although he was in sunny Florida.
Re-Timer is actually used to reset the body clock and combat jetlag. For flights east, the glasses should be worn for 60 minutes three days before you travel and then again three days later. For travel to the west, you will need them for 60 minutes, three nights prior and three full days afterwards.
A misalignment in your body clock and the time you arrive at your destination can cause jet lag. The body’s clock and sleeping patterns can be reset by bright light.
Good Health learned that the Re-Timer glasses contain four LED lights which stimulate brain’s Pineal gland. This is what regulates body clock regulation. “Our research has shown that the Re-Timer’s green light is the best wavelength to advance or delay the body’s clock. Malcolm von Schantz is a Northumbria University professor of chronobiology and says that the concept behind the glasses makes sense.
Light suppresses the hormone melatonin — levels usually peak at night and prepare the body for sleep. A portable device with 500 lux brightness, which is roughly the same as a 200-300 Lux living room, can be sufficient to provide enough light.
The Re-Timer headset was found to shift the body’s clock in a 2015 study published in Sleep and Biological Rhythms. However, some users experienced headaches and irritation. And the glasses are not cheap at £189 a pair.

On that Miami hotel balcony, what was Mick Jagger wearing? One morning prior to the end of the final tour, the Rolling Stones singer was seen in futuristic light therapy glasses.