In many cultures, the placenta is more than tissue left over after birth. It is understood as spiritually linked to the baby, treated as a companion or sibling, and buried to protect the child or connect them to family and ancestral land.
Yet in many maternity settings, what happens to the placenta after birth may receive little discussion unless a woman already knows she can ask to take it home.
For Mrs Adekemi Diran, a mother of two, the placentas from her first two deliveries were handed to her husband to dispose of as he wished. However, when she had her third baby in the United Kingdom, the issue of placenta disposal was not even raised with her.
“They were supposed to ask me about these things. If they had asked, I would have explained,” she later said.
Instead, she was left with a sense of loss and grieved the absence of the ritual she had expected.
Her experience illustrates why conversations about placenta disposal should begin during pregnancy rather than be left until after childbirth.
A Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof Christopher Aimakhu, explained that the placenta is a vital organ that sustains pregnancy by serving as the communication link between a mother and her unborn baby.
“The placenta is actually the communication between the baby and the mother during pregnancy. It is the connection between both of them and performs several critical functions that help sustain the pregnancy and support the baby’s development,” he said.
Beyond transferring nutrients, he noted that the placenta produces essential hormones needed to maintain pregnancy and support fetal growth.
It also plays a significant role in protecting the unborn child by transferring antibodies from the mother, thereby providing temporary immunity that can continue for several months after birth.
According to him, once the baby is delivered, the placenta naturally separates from the uterus and is expelled as part of the normal childbirth process. There is no single legal or medical requirement in Nigeria that dictates how it must be handled.
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“In our practice, parents are usually asked whether they want to take the placenta. If they choose to do so, they are free to take it. If they do not want it, the hospital disposes of it according to its established procedures for medical waste,” he said.
Prof Aimakhu noted that cultural beliefs surrounding the placenta vary widely, with some families choosing to bury it or observe other traditional practices. However, he stressed that consuming the placenta after birth—whether in capsules, smoothies or other forms—is not part of standard medical care and is not recommended by healthcare professionals.
“I have heard that some cultures may cook and eat the placenta, but that is not something we practice or recommend medically. If some cultures do it, that is their cultural practice, but it is not a routine medical practice,” he explained.
He urged the public to distinguish between cultural traditions and evidence-based medical practice, reiterating that while the placenta is indispensable throughout pregnancy, there is no medical recommendation supporting its consumption after childbirth.
Nobody knows exactly why non-human mammals eat their placenta. Some scientists suggest that the practice may help prevent predators from detecting vulnerable newborns, while others argue that the placenta contains nutrients and hormones that could benefit a new mother.
However, Dr Folajimi Senjobi, a Consultant Family Physician at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, said the idea of consuming the placenta after birth should be discouraged.
“Some people dispose of it in placenta wells, especially in parts of the South-East. In the South-West, it is commonly buried. I’m not really sure what is done in the North. But to eat the placenta is completely out of the question,” he said.
Dr Senjobi described the placenta as a human organ that has fulfilled its purpose during pregnancy and should be properly disposed of after childbirth rather than consumed.
He also rejected claims that eating the placenta can restore a woman’s packed cell volume (PCV) or replace blood lost during childbirth.
“The moment you boil it, the proteins become denatured. Besides, if eating human flesh boosts health or immunity, then we might as well be eating each other,” he said.
The family medicine specialist warned that consuming the placenta could expose people to serious health risks, particularly if it is eaten raw or inadequately cooked.
“If the tissue is eaten raw, there is a possibility of transmitting blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV,” he explained.
He added that even cooking the placenta may not eliminate every risk.
“If it is boiled, fried or roasted, depending on the depth and duration of cooking, hepatitis B virus can survive under harsh conditions and may still be transmitted. It is a human tissue, and I don’t think human tissue should be encouraged to be eaten by anybody,” he said.
A Consultant Community Physician in the Faculty of Public Health at the University of Ibadan, Dr Abayomi Akande, expressed similar concerns.
“The placenta may contain heavy metals and toxins. If a mother consumes it, some of these substances may be passed to the baby through breast milk. That is why the practice is discouraged—not only for the mother’s health but also for the health of the baby,” he said.
Dr Akande stressed that there is no evidence that consuming the placenta provides nutritional benefits that cannot be obtained from safer, more conventional food sources.
“Some people argue that the placenta contains iron, but the amount of iron it contains is not more than what you can obtain from ordinary foods such as suya. So why expose yourself to potential harm because of that?” he queried.
He urged mothers and families to rely on evidence-based medical advice rather than unverified claims circulating online or through word of mouth.
“There is no proven health benefit from eating the placenta, while there are potential risks. From a public health perspective, it is a practice that should be discouraged,” he said.
Earlier this year, an infant in the United States was diagnosed with late-onset sepsis, a potentially fatal infection caused by Group B Streptococcus agalactiae. Placenta capsules consumed by the infant’s mother later tested positive for the bacteria and were identified as a possible source of the infection.
Beyond such cases, systematic reviews have found no convincing scientific evidence that eating the placenta improves postpartum recovery, increases iron levels, boosts milk production, prevents postpartum depression or provides any of the other benefits often claimed by its advocates.
In the absence of proven benefits, health experts argued that potential risks are not difficult to justify.
Also weighing in, a Professor of Health Promotion and Education at the University of Ibadan, Prof Oyediran Oyewole, described placentophagy—the consumption of the placenta—as a practice that raises both public health and ethical concerns, despite historical accounts of its existence in a few cultures.
Prof Oyewole said that although anthropological records have documented placentophagy in some ancient and isolated societies, there is no justification for the practice in modern healthcare.
Historical reports have linked placenta consumption to a handful of cultures, including the Kol people of Central India, the Chaga of Tanzania and some Native American communities. However, he noted that these practices were culturally specific and should not be interpreted as evidence of medical benefit.
Despite acknowledging placenta’s nutrient content, he maintained that there is no public health justification for eating it.
“The placenta is very rich in iron that is easily absorbed by the human body because it is the organ through which nutrients are transferred from the mother to the baby during pregnancy. Perhaps some cultures, through observation or intuition, believed it had nutritional value and began consuming it,” he said.
He explained that the placenta also serves as a biological barrier during pregnancy, helping to protect the unborn child from harmful agents circulating in the mother’s body. As a result, handling or consuming it could expose people to infectious diseases, particularly where the mother has undiagnosed infections.
“If the mother is living with infections such as HIV or hepatitis, handling or consuming the placenta could expose others to those diseases. From a public health perspective, anything involving the handling or consumption of human tissue should be discouraged,” he said.
Prof Oyewole noted that many Nigerian families request the placenta after childbirth because of longstanding cultural beliefs.
and burial traditions. In some communities, he added, placentas are used for rituals.
He also observed that many developed countries have strict hospital protocols governing placenta disposal, limiting its release because of health and safety considerations.
The professor called on public health authorities to develop clearer policies on the management of placentas after childbirth to minimise potential health risks.
“Any future policy would need to strike a balance between public health priorities and longstanding cultural practices,” he said, adding that public education would be essential in helping families understand the health reasons behind such measures.
While medicine views the placenta primarily as biological tissue after birth, many communities continue to regard it as a deeply symbolic object whose handling carries cultural and spiritual significance.
An Associate Professor at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Dr Obafemi Jegede, said that although some cultures have been reported to consume the placenta, eating it is neither a recognised nor a generally accepted practice in Yoruba society.
He noted, however, that historical references exist to its limited medicinal use in traditional healing.
“There are traditional medicinal preparations in which the placenta may be used. The idea is symbolic, that by consuming it medicinally, one has conquered ibi, or evil, so that misfortune will not befall the child. But this is for medicinal purposes within traditional healing and is not generally acceptable or commonly practised,” he said.
According to him, the placenta has long been treated with great reverence in Yoruba culture rather than as ordinary biological waste, with responsibility for its disposal traditionally resting with the father’s family after childbirth.
Dr Jegede explained that the placenta occupies a profound place in Yoruba cosmology, where it is regarded as the “second part” of a person’s existence and a symbol of the lifelong connection between an individual and their origin.
He added that, in keeping with Yoruba tradition, the place where the placenta is buried is often marked by planting a tree or placing another object to identify the location. The practice reflects the belief that the bond between the child and the placenta does not end with birth.
While cultural beliefs surrounding the placenta remain deeply rooted in many communities, viral social media claims promoting its consumption tell a different story.
Dr Victor Makanjuola, a Consultant Psychiatrist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, said many of the viral claims about eating the placenta after childbirth are likely driven by the pursuit of social media engagement rather than genuine behaviour.
According to him, social media has created incentives for people to make shocking or sensational claims simply to attract attention and generate income.
“Things online are not always genuine. People just want to get engagement because once content is monetised, the creator earns from the traffic it generates. That is one perspective that could explain such claims,” he said.
However, Dr Makanjuola maintained that if a person genuinely consumes the placenta and openly admits to doing so, the behaviour should be regarded as a mental health concern rather than a normal lifestyle choice.
“There is no acceptable medical, psychological or social justification for eating the placenta in this day and age,” he said.
The consultant psychiatrist advised the public not to be swayed by sensational online content, urging people to rely on verified medical information rather than viral social media trends when making decisions about their health.
For many families, the placenta remains a symbol of birth, identity and belonging. For doctors and public health experts, it is a biological organ that should be handled safely and disposed of appropriately after it has fulfilled its role in pregnancy. In all, one message emerges clearly: cultural beliefs deserve respect, but claims that eating the placenta offers proven health benefits are not supported by any medical evidence.
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