Kim Kardashian eats Saint West’s placenta in pill form, doctors differ on the practice
A woman who makes pills from placenta just did it for Kim Kardashian, using Saint West’s placenta. The reality star is just one of the celebrity-clients of Joni Lucarelli, the woman who has been doing that for the past six years.
While doctors are divided on the practice, Lucarelli claims that based on the anecdotes of her clients – which she admits are medically inconclusive – those women who gave birth and took placenta pills report better breastmilk flow, higher energy and do not experience with postpartum depression, according to Pagesix. It is not only celebrities who eat their newborn’s placentas, tribal women and dogs do it too.
Called placentophagy, the practice has divided medical experts. WebMD notes that while there is no proof that eating the placenta does what Lucarelli mentions in clients’ anecdote, some doctors think the practice should be continued to be studied.
The placenta contains protein and fats, but doctors point out that those nutrients are also found in a healthy diet. Among animals, the practice could reduce labor pains in a female dog and encourage the dog to bond with her puppies. However, WebMD reminds, “Remember, though, that’s for a dog, not for a woman.”
Lucarelli, who has encapsulated about 500 placentas, picks up the placenta after a woman gives birth and prepares it at home. She uses either the traditional Chinese way of preparing it by steaming the placenta with lemon, ginger and hot pepper before dehydrating, or the raw food method in which it is processed raw and dehydrated at a temperature not exceeding 118 degrees Fahrenheit.
Kim opted for the raw food method. On Monday, she talked about the placenta pill in a post. She writes, “I really didn’t want the baby blues and thought I can’t go wrong with taking a pill made of my own hormones-made by me, for sure.” The 35-year-old shares that she heard stories about the beneficial effects of placenta when she gave birth to daughter North, so she told herself, “Why not try it? What do I have to lose?” quotes the New York Daily News.
Lucarelli explains that the number of pills made from the placenta ranges from 100 to 200, depending on the size of the placenta which usually weighs about 1 pound and looks round and flat. Within one day, she usually delivers the placenta pill to clients whom she recommends to take one capsule thrice daily until they finish the pills.
But some mothers take them slowly and save the rest in Ziploc and frozen. They take it later when they have menopause or PMS, which prolongs the life of the pill for a few years. Lucarelli, who charges $275 for the service, admits “It’s fodder for all kinds of crazy … If it hasn’t become a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit yet, then it will.”
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