title: Attitudes toward placentophagy: a brief report.
abstract: Placentophagy is the consumption of the placenta after birth. For the present study, an online survey explored knowledge and attitudes toward the practice. Participants (N = 216, 78.7% female, 19.9% male) completed Internet-based surveys on placentophagy. A majority (66%) had heard about placentophagy, and of these, 23.1% had learned about the practice through the media. A small number of participants (3.3%) had eaten human placental tissue. Male and female respondents did not differ in willingness to eat placenta (χ (2)(2) = 1.60, p = .45). Contrary to popular belief, placentophagy appears to be rare in human history and across cultures. Future research should explore changing attitudes toward placentophagy across cultures.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Bates College , Lewiston , Maine , USA.
authors.forename: Gwendolyn E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Cremers
authors.forename: Kathryn Graff
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Low
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D003469:Culture; D003625:Data Collection; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036801:Parturition / Q000208:ethnology*; D010920:Placenta; D011247:Pregnancy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult