I happened upon this Fear-factor-busting article earlier today:
A behavioral neuroscientist at the University at Buffalo holds that the ingestion of afterbirth by a mother, a feature of pregnancy in nearly all non-human mammals, not only relieves postpartum pain, but optimizes the onset of maternal behavior by mediating the activity of specific opioid activity circuits in the brain.
Many mammals are closer relatives than we might think but, I am glad there is no sign of this behaviour in modern day humans.
Placenta is used in some hair and skin products though. Now I wonder… are the hospitals selling this placenta to medical companies? Shouldn’t the moms get paid for providing their placenta? And who are these crazy people that put placenta on their hair and face anyway?!
Left by Guinevere on February 17th, 2005