‘I Suggest It to All Moms’: Mad Men Star Touts Health Benefits of…Placenta Eating
- Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:28am by
Liz Klimas
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January Jones plays Betty Francis -- perhaps more notable as Betty Draper -- on AMC's Mad Men. (Photo: AMC)
January Jones, who plays Betty Francis (formerly Betty Draper) on AMC’s “Mad Men,” was back to work a quick six to seven weeks after giving birth to her son Xavier in Sept. 2011. What’s her secret?
At a press junket last week, Jones revealed to People magazine that it, in part, could be “placenta capsulation,” which is a fancy way of saying that she eats her own placenta in pill form. People has more:
“I have a great doula who makes sure I’m eating well, with vitamins and teas, and with placenta capsulation.”
You read right: Jones is eating her own placenta. “Your placenta gets dehydrated and made into vitamins,” she explains. “It’s something I was very hesitant about, but we’re the only mammals who don’t ingest our own placentas.”
Jones has taken the capsules every day since right after she had her son, and also anytime she feels tired or down. Jones insists, “It’s not witch-crafty or anything! I suggest it to all moms!”
Placenta pills are becoming a growing trend. (Photo: Fruit of the Womb)
There is little research on taking placenta pills but they have been said to help relieve post-pardum depression. Watch this ABC News report from last year about the trend:
Around the same time, the Huffington Post reported about the “growing” profession as a placenta cook. It featured one such woman, Lisa Fortin of Brooklyn, who said the pills she helps make also provide an energy boost and enhanced milk production for new mothers. Here’s more about how Fortin makes the pills:
“It’s definitely a different scent,” said Fortin about the aroma given off by a steaming pot filled with a placenta, frankincense, myrrh, ginger and lemon. “It’s not something you smelled before. It’s not something you think smells bad, but it’s a little bit foreign.”
After about 25 minutes on medium heat, she takes out the afterbirth, slices it with a big blade and arranges the pieces on her jerky maker, where they’ll dry for 10 hours at 105 degrees.
Then, Fortin pulverizes the chunks in a coffee grinder. The powder fills about 100 capsules that the new mother takes over several weeks.
The Huffington Post reports Fortin saying the practice of eating placenta draws from Chinese medicine and much of the animal kingdom where most mammals eat their placenta.
ABC News reports that placental pills are not FDA approved and has some doctors weigh in on the topic:
“There is certainly a potential medicinal use,” Dr. David Katz, founder of the Yale Prevention Center, said of placentas last year. “This is a time-honored cultural practice of eating the placenta. It is nutrient-rich and a source of hormones.”
[...]
In either case, Dr. Lauren F. Streicher, clinical instructor in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern Medical School, said women don’t need to consume their afterbirth to get through the sadness [of post-partum depression]. Streicher said it’s simply irresponsible and dangerous to tout the pills as a cure for post-partum depression Women should seek medical help if they experience post-pardum depression.
As for the milder baby blues, “[They] don’t need this stuff,’” she said last year. “It’s going to go away on its own.”
What are your thoughts on the practice?
[H/T Yahoo! News]
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Comments (106)
cookcountypatriot
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:28amthe real secret is eating big steamy piles of hollywood ****…deeeeeeeeeelish
Report Post »dheard
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:35pmChill out people. The placenta is dehydrated and encapsulated and so all that’s left of it is the protein and hormones it was producing to keep mother and baby (but mostly baby) healthy. After a woman gives birth her hormones are out of whack for a while and placenta pills are quite helpful in supplying hormones that your body is struggling to recover to make. Placenta encapsulation is also regarded as a very effective way to help women with postpartum depression which is thought to be caused by deficiencies in certain hormones/neurotransmitters. Ever heard of people with hypothyroidism? Guess what medication they were given for over 100 years and some people still use them – dessicated animal thyroid (sheep or pig thyroid, I believe). Just because you haven‘t heard about it doesn’t mean it’s wrong or bad. Just relax and think about it a bit… gee whiz.
Report Post »godlovinmom
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:55pmMy sister does this for a living…she goes to the hospital…gets the new mom’s placenta..takes it home…dries it…makes capsules or a jelly out of it and gives it back…bam 250.00 dollars.
Report Post »Quite honestly…reminds me of a mama cat eating her afterbirth…I find it very Gross…My daughter helped her with one and said it smelled like a big nasty Vigina…double gross!
shy
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:24pmThis just shows me the left is one step closer to pushing there aborted fetis shake‘s to help promote women’s health
Report Post »vjt
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:02pmDHEARD: Cooking the placenta will destroy all the compound about which you speak.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:25amI wasn’t aware it had to be dehydrated first. Why don’t women tell us those things?
Report Post »biblegeek119
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:24pmMaybe it wouldn’t be so chewy ……. OF COURSE WE ARE JOKING!
Report Post »biblegeek119
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:26pmMaybe it wouldn’t be so chewy….OF COURSE WE ARE JOKING!
Report Post »db321
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:14pmI don’t mind the eating part – I just haven’t step up to adding placenta!
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 7:50pmMuch like other foods don‘t you loose some nutrients if you don’t get it fresh ?
Report Post »MrSunshine
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:24amI….uh….um….rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….hmmm….whaaaaaaa?
I should have stayed in bed!
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:27amyou and me both. this is just disgusting so glad I am eating my breakfast and surfing the blaze. that will teach me
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:21amI’m thinking, One global catastrophe coming right up.
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 7:09pmyou wish it was, nut job jesus freak! Go away. You’ll live a full life and nothing will happen.. you’ll see!
Report Post »Akridgerunner
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:21amPerfect!! Good one!!
Report Post »TexasPeach
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:17amI grilled mine and ate it with some asparagus and a good chianti. Marvelous.
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:33amI thought it was supposed to be liver and fava beans. :)
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:37am.
Peach sweetie you just sit right there. I called “The Man” we gonna get you some help……
LMAO……
Report Post »PROUD TO BE A BECK FAN
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:50pmHillarious reply! You made my day! I actually like watching Mad Men, but this is different.
Report Post »Interesting replies all, but this one made me LOL!!!
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:17am.
Placenta Eating? “B” Please….that’s is just passed Nasty…I bet it tastes like fish………
I saw what was in that bucket!!! You one Sick Puppy Lady…….
Report Post »oldguy49
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:23amthere was a story last week{since can’t find it anywhere} about food and soft drink flavoring using aborted feteus……………movie solient green comes to mind as well as with this gov. gattica
Report Post »cranberry
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:16amIsn‘t there this wonderful invention for humans called the Vitamin that takes care of what animals don’t have? sheesh. Messed Up.
Report Post »TurkE
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:15amMy placenta has a first name,
it’s O-S-C-A-R…
BTW, is this where pink slime really comes from?
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:11amThat is just too gross.
Report Post »randy
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:08amYeah, and my Dog humps my Cat. So what’s your point you, sicko?
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 1:04pmDogs eat their own vomit too.
Report Post »Tigress1
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:04amI’ve seen animals lick their babies butts clean. Does that mean we should do that too?
Report Post »mountainmover101
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:08amYou should if you worship Gaia.
Report Post »brntout
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:11amWe also don’t eat our young weaklings.
Report Post »GJPinks
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:42amBRNTOUT, you must not have read ObamaCare carefully…;-)
Report Post »adeleeeee
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 4:37amYou know some kinds of insect eat their spouse after mating… so what does that imply?
Report Post »bshrader
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:02amHmm, … does she eat her young, too?
Report Post »other mammals do… maybe that has some sick health benefit..
idiot…
TH30PH1LUS
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:57amOccupy Wall Street will bring it back in style
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:55amShe plays a crazy woman on the show, and I guess she is a crazy person in real life. I wonder if she also drinks her own urine?
Report Post »mountainmover101
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 11:06amWell I didn’t think there was much acting involved in her portrayal of Betty. I mean she’s a beautiful woman but a Katherine Hepburn she is definitely NOT. This is just creepy.
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 2:06pmUrine actually contains alot of essential goodness. Products made from or extracted from urine are still in use today as powerful medicines. The urine is made up of all the things that the kidneys filter out of the blood. When your body has too much of a hormone or other protein that it needs, it it filtered by the kidneys and expelled. It is not like your solid waste that is all of the stuff that is half digested and toxic to you. In fact, alot of weight loss clinics have people take hormones under the tongue that are based on the hormones of a pregnant woman that allow her to utilize her fact reserves before her muscle reserves if she goes without eating ensuring that the mother is still strong and that the baby still gets fed.
So your comment about urine merely shows an ignorance on the subject.
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 7:31pmShe could drink mine. Right from the tap.
Report Post »RightUnite
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:52amOh brother….
Report Post »gperky
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:50amMore Hollywood Weidos that are not in touch with reality. Why do we even watch or listen to these nut jobs?
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:49amWhen with the Army in Korea back in the day… the local Military Hospitals had to find another way to dispose of Placenta other than just tossing in the dumpsters out back in bags. Korean women were standing in line to get their fix rummaging through the dumpsters. They said it was used for facial products.
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 2:09pmIn the US today, they use male foreskin cut from infants in some specialized facial products. Now that is sick. The placenta eating by the mother though is just a natural way to gain calories, proteins, and hormones after the trauma of child birth.
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 8:00pmLook for Ben & Jerry‘s ’Smegma Surprise’.
Report Post »code green
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:46amThat is one sick person.
Report Post »momrules
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:45am“It’s not witch crafty or anything! I suggest it to all moms.”
Well this Mom says phooey. Just more new age, feel good, we are all just animals nonsense.
Report Post »SpeckledPup
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:43amwhy didn’t she just turn around and eat it just like a dog would, same thing. just gulp that mess down as soon as she gave birth, she may as well. these degenarete hollywood democrats are nothing more than devolving animals.
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:14pmWhy doesn’t she just go with waste not, want not ? This is much to close to canibalism to me ,so i’ll just deal with the depression………………
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:41amDifferent Strokes for Different Folks, I guess.
Report Post »WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Different!
Ick!
brntout
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:38am“We are the only mammals that don’t eat their placentas” Huh? wonder why.Maybe because in the grand scheme of things,it is a downright disturbing notion,but I‘m sure it will find it’s part in our normalcy realm soon.
Report Post »biblegeek119
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:29pmQuestion: Do vegetarian animals (cows, deer etc) do they also eat their placenta?
Report Post »MyzPhoenyx
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 2:01pmBible
Cows do eat their afterbirth. So I learned something new today. Thanks for the question, I hadn’t even considered it. I knew that most animals did that, it just never crossed my mind before.
Report Post »I still don’t think that I could do this. I‘ve helped animals birth babies and I can’t even watch them eat it. I just don’t think that I could will myself to swallow it, pill form or not.
PaxInVeritate
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 2:03pmHmmm… carnivores, herbivores, omnivores (don’t know about chimps, monkeys or apes) all eat the after birth because the mother is the only one to tend to the new born and can not wash the babe in water to take the tissue off, but must rely on the tongue because they do not have hands to facilitate the process. As far as Chinese medicine goes, this part of mimicking nature is about as useful as their grinding rhino horns and drying tiger penises for tea or soups.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:37amWhen these types try to push their agenda of animalism it brings images of the wildebeests on the African plains eating their placentas so as not to attract the attention of predators. They strive for all of us to become a part of the HERD…. Sheeple.
Report Post »Darla_K
Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:37amHmmmmm…………..Think I will pass.
Report Post »