Comparison of placenta consumers' and non-consumers' postpartum depression screening results using EPDS in US community birth settings (n=6038): a propensity score analysis.

Background: Preventing postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common self-reported motivation for human maternal placentophagy, yet very little systematic research has assessed mental health following placenta consumption. Our aim was to compare PPD screening scores of placenta consumers and non-consumers in a community birth setting, using propensity score matching to address anticipated extensive confounding.

Methods: We used a medical records-based data set (n = 6038) containing pregnancy, birth, and postpartum information for US women who planned and completed community births.

Prevalence and Predictors of Postpartum Cosleeping Practices after Midwife-Led Births in the US.

Objective: To evaluate patterns of mother-infant sleeping behaviors among US-based mothers who received care from midwives and breastfed their infants the majority of time at 6 weeks postpartum.

Study Design: Infant sleep locations were reported for 24 915 mother-infant dyads followed through 6 weeks postpartum, following midwife-led singleton births. Using data derived from medical records, we used multinomial logistic regression to identify predictors of sleep location.

Impact of tissue processing on microbiological colonization in the context of placentophagy.

A mother's postpartum ingestion of raw or processed placental tissue-referred to as human maternal placentophagy-is an emerging health trend observed in industrialized nations. Placenta is commonly consumed as small pieces of raw tissue, or as raw or steamed dehydrated pulverized and encapsulated tissue. To investigate the potential neonatal health risks of this behavior, the present study focused on microbial colonization of processed placenta preparations with potentially pathogenic bacteria Streptococcus agalactiae (Group-B-Streptococci; GBS) and Escherichia coli (E.

Postpartum Maternal Mood Among Hadza Foragers of Tanzania: A Mixed Methods Approach.

Infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world in low and middle-income countries where postpartum depression impacts at least one in five women. Currently, there is a dearth of data on maternal mood and infant health outcomes in small-scale non-industrial populations from such countries, particularly during the postnatal period. Here, we present the first investigation of postpartum maternal mood among a foraging population, the Hadza of Tanzania.

Ingestion of Steamed and Dehydrated Placenta Capsules Does Not Affect Postpartum Plasma Prolactin Levels or Neonatal Weight Gain: Results from a Randomized, Double-Bind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study.

Introduction: Clinical studies conducted in the early to mid-twentieth century, and recent self-reports by some maternal placentophagy practitioners, suggest that human maternal placentophagy improves breast milk quality and quantity, although little research has evaluated this claim. Some placentophagy providers and advocates suggest that increased prolactin levels after placenta ingestion could account for the purported lactation benefits. The current study was conducted to evaluate these claims by comparing plasma prolactin levels of women consuming steamed, dehydrated, and encapsulated placenta with those of women consuming a placebo.

Placentophagy among women planning community births in the United States: Frequency, rationale, and associated neonatal outcomes.

Background: Limited systematic research on maternal placentophagy is available to maternity care providers whose clients/patients may be considering this increasingly popular practice. Our purpose was to characterize the practice of placentophagy and its attendant neonatal outcomes among a large sample of women in the United States.

Methods: We used a medical records-based data set (n = 23 242) containing pregnancy, birth, and postpartum information for women who planned community births.

Effects of placentophagy on maternal salivary hormones: A pilot trial, part 1.

Background: Recent studies show that human placenta, processed and encapsulated for postpartum consumption, contains a host of trace minerals and hormones that could conceivably affect maternal physiology. Our objective was to investigate whether salivary hormone concentrations of women ingesting their own encapsulated placenta during the early postpartum differed from those of women consuming a placebo.

Methods: Randomly assigned participants (N=27) were given a supplement containing either their dehydrated and homogenized placenta (n=12), or placebo (n=15).

Placentophagy's effects on mood, bonding, and fatigue: A pilot trial, part 2.

Background: Human maternal placentophagy is gaining popularity among a growing number of women who believe it provides maternal benefits, including prevention of postpartum blues/depression, improved maternal bonding, and reduced fatigue.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study (N=27) in which participants consumed either their processed, encapsulated placenta (n=12), or similarly prepared placebo (n=15). Maternal mood, bonding, and fatigue were assessed via validated scales across four time points during late pregnancy and early postpartum.

Effects of Human Maternal Placentophagy on Maternal Postpartum Iron Status: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study.

Introduction: Advocates of human maternal placentophagy report that encapsulated placenta is an excellent source of dietary iron. Our study compared the effect of ingested encapsulated placenta on maternal postpartum iron status versus that of a beef placebo.

Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study (N = 23) was conducted among healthy human research participants experiencing a normal pregnancy.

Human placenta processed for encapsulation contains modest concentrations of 14 trace minerals and elements.

Maternal placentophagy has recently emerged as a rare but increasingly popular practice among women in industrialized countries who often ingest the placenta as a processed, encapsulated supplement, seeking its many purported postpartum health benefits. Little scientific research, however, has evaluated these claims, and concentrations of trace micronutrients/elements in encapsulated placenta have never been examined. Because the placenta retains beneficial micronutrients and potentially harmful toxic elements at parturition, we hypothesized that dehydrated placenta would contain detectable concentrations of these elements.

Presence and concentration of 17 hormones in human placenta processed for encapsulation and consumption.

Human maternal placentophagy is a rare but growing practice in several industrialized countries among postpartum mothers seeking a variety of purported health benefits attributed to the practice. These postpartum mothers typically consume their placenta as a processed, encapsulated supplement. To determine whether free (unconjugated) steroid hormones and melatonin in placenta can survive the encapsulation process (namely steaming and dehydration), we analyzed 28 placenta samples processed for encapsulation using liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to evaluate the concentration of 17 hormones.

Prevention of type 2 diabetes in urban American Indian/Alaskan Native communities: The Life in BALANCE pilot study.

Objective: The Life in BALANCE (LIB) study is a pilot translational study modeling the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) intensive lifestyle coaching intervention among an underserved, high-risk population: American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) living in a large urban setting (Las Vegas, Nevada).

Research Design And Methods: A total of 22 overweight/obese AI/ANs (age, 39.6 ± 10.

The "early life" origins of obesity-related health disorders: new discoveries regarding the intergenerational transmission of developmentally programmed traits in the global cardiometabolic health crisis.

Popular media reports concerning the causes of the current global obesity pandemic and its related sequelae-the cardiometabolic syndrome-are often couched in terms of dramatic changes in diet and lifestyle around the world; namely, drastically increasing dietary intakes of high energy foods and plummeting levels of daily physical activity-the hallmarks of the so called "nutrition transition." Far less attention is generally drawn to the important role phenotypic plasticity during early life (i.e.

Human maternal placentophagy: a survey of self-reported motivations and experiences associated with placenta consumption.

Maternal placentophagy, although widespread among mammals, is conspicuously absent among humans cross-culturally. Recently, however, advocates for the practice have claimed it provides human postpartum benefits. Despite increasing awareness about placentophagy, no systematic research has investigated the motivations or perceived effects of practitioners.

The conspicuous absence of placenta consumption in human postpartum females: the fire hypothesis.

The absence of human placentophagy, the maternal consumption of the afterbirth, is puzzling given its ubiquity and probable adaptive value in other mammals. We propose that human fire use may have led to placentophagy avoidance in our species. In our environment of evolutionary adaptedness, gravid women would likely have been regularly exposed to smoke and ash, which is known to contain harmful substances.

In search of human placentophagy: a cross-cultural survey of human placenta consumption, disposal practices, and cultural beliefs.

Maternal placentophagy, the consumption of the placenta or "afterbirth" by the mother following parturition, is an ubiquitous behavior among eutherian mammals, including non-human primates. Here we report on a cross-cultural survey of 179 human societies regarding the consumption, treatment, and disposal of human placenta, in addition to accompanying cultural beliefs and perceptions about the organ. The conspicuous absence of cultural traditions associated with maternal placentophagy in the cross-cultural ethnographic record raises interesting questions relative to its ubiquitous presence among nearly all other mammals, and the reasons for its absence (or extreme rarity) among prehistoric/historic and contemporary human cultures.

Use of dried blood spots: an ideal tool for medical anthropology "in the field".

The use of dried whole blood spot samples provides medical anthropological researchers-especially those working in remote, isolated communities-with several advantages over traditional methods. Anthropological research utilizing venous-drawn blood samples can create challenges in terms of phlebotomy training, personnel needs, storage and transportation requirements, and participant discomfort. Alternatively, research utilizing dried blood spot samples, via finger stick collection techniques, eliminates or reduces these problems greatly.

Insulin sensitivity is normalized in the third generation (F3) offspring of developmentally programmed insulin resistant (F2) rats fed an energy-restricted diet.

Background/aims: The offspring and grandoffspring of female rats fed low protein diets during pregnancy and lactation, but fed nutritionally adequate diets thereafter, have been shown to exhibit altered insulin sensitivity in adulthood. The current study investigates the insulin sensitivity of the offspring and grandoffspring of female rats fed low protein diets during pregnancy, and then maintained on energy-restricted diets post weaning over three generations.

Methods: Female Sprague Dawley rats (F0) were mated with control males and protein malnourished during pregnancy/lactation.

The developmental origins of obesity and related health disorders--prenatal and perinatal factors.

Obesity, and its health-related sequelae (the metabolic syndrome), have recently emerged as a global health crisis. The prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in economically developed and developing countries world-wide has more than doubled over the past decade. While genetic factors, increasingly sedentary lifestyles, and overnutrition have all been cited as important components of the obesity crisis, recent epidemiological and experimental evidence suggests that developmental factors--especially those that occur in utero and during early postnatal life--play a significant role in the pandemic.

Exploring the thrifty genotype's food-shortage assumptions: a cross-cultural comparison of ethnographic accounts of food security among foraging and agricultural societies.

The "thrifty genotype hypothesis" has become firmly entrenched as one of the orienting concepts in biomedical anthropology, since first being proposed by Neel (1962 Am. J. Hum.

Post-natal diet determines insulin resistance in fetally malnourished, low birthweight rats (F1) but diet does not modify the insulin resistance of their offspring (F2).

We examined the effects of prenatal and postnatal nutrition on birthweight and insulin sensitivity, indicated by the glucose/insulin (G/I) ratio, in adult rats (F1 generation) and in their adult offspring (F2 generation). Rat pups (F1) whose dams consumed low-protein diets during gestation (malnourished) consumed either nutritionally adequate (control) or high-fat diets ad libitum post-weaning. The offspring of these rats (F2) were maintained on the same diets as their respective dams.