The Rose Bush of Wallone

I came across an interesting tale about the connectedness between the placenta and the person it nourished in the womb in a book called, Placenta: The Gift of Life by Cornelia Enning (available at www.midwiferytoday.com). It's a wonderful book full of information and history of placenta uses. 

The tale is called the "The Rose Bush of Wallone"

   Once upon a time in Wallone, a district of Belgium, a young woman gave birth to a son.  Her husband planted a rose bush in front of their house, as generations had done before.  He buried the boy's afterbirth under the bush.  The rose bush took root, nurtured by the afterbirth like the son had once been.  Being carefully nursed by the parents, the little rose bush grew up to a magnificent tree and burst into full bloom.  At the same time the son became a strong, young man.
  One day he left his family and stepped into the wide world.  He instructed his mother to not worry about his traveling as a salesman in foreign countries.  As long as his rose tree had green leaves and red blossoms, he would thrive as well.
  His mother nursed and cared for the rose bush, enjoying the blooming roses every year.  One morning, when she was about to nurse her roses, her blood ran cold: All of the roses had dried out and the leaves had fallen off during the night.  There was no life in the rose bush!  Now she knew that her son had had a great misfortune.
   The poor woman was carried, crying, into her house and put to bed to rest.  For three days and nights she shed floods of tears, when finally a messenger arrived.  He shared the bad news of her son's misfortune: Thieves had ambushed and murdered him in the dark of the night.
   Mourning her son, the old woman broke off the dried branch of the dead rose bush.  As her son was buried, she put the branch below his feet.
   In time new life came into the dried branch.  United again with his "milkbrother" the rose bush grew new roots.  The next spring tender buds sprouted above the ground and the following summer the bush brought splendor above the ground of flaming red roses.  Since then - year in and year out - a flood of red roses grow from the graves of Wallone.

The Breastfeeding Benefits of Placentophagy

Historically, traditional Chinese medicine has used the placenta to help increase lactation in women who had inadequate supply.  Research has now been done to help explain the benefits of this practice and give us a look into the science behind it.  It is interesting to note that almost all mammals ingest their placenta after birthing and easily nurse their young without problems.  Today, only 25% of women are still breastfeeding their children at 6 months, compared to 81% at birth.  There are many other reasons that women quit breastfeeding but one of the most common is that the woman has an inadequate supply. 

In a study of 210 postpartum women fed their placentas after birth, it showed that 86.2% of them had positive results.  This study used some first time moms and many second time moms that had experienced difficulty with milk supply while nursing their previous children.  Positive results were usually seen within 2 to 3 days after taking the placenta.  Another interesting study was being carried out at the same time using cows and studying their milk supply after placenta ingestion.  While definite results were not ye available, research so far showed that cows that consumed their placenta produced 1 liter more of milk per day than cows that did not.

So what is the substance is the placenta that has such a marked benefit on lactation?  Researchers thought that it might be protein and began another experiment.  In this, they used beef instead of placenta.  They treated the beef the same way they did the placenta and gave the same amount (65g) of beef to each participant.  The results yielded only a 33% positive result, with 66% of the participants showing no effect at all.  The conclusion of this study was that protein was not the main substance in the placenta that caused an increase in milk supply.

An interesting explanation is that placenta medicine is an effective form of tissue therapy.  The placenta is a piece of tissue expelled from a mammal and then after processing is reintroduced.  It is understood that tissues undergo a biochemical change when separated from an organism and undergoing unfavorable conditions (such as encapsulation).  These conditions cause substances to be formed that stimulate biochemical processes, called biogenic stimulators.  These biogenic stimulators are not present until the tissue leaves the organism.  According to the study:

“Biogenic stimulators, introduced into the organism one way or another, activate life processes, increase cellular metabolism and intensify the physiological functions of the organism.” (Placenta as a Lactagogon)

This is an interesting hypothesis on why and how placenta medicine works.  It may also explain the reason that placenta is beneficial as a supplement, but a retained placenta is detrimental to milk supply.  Another explanation is the hormones present in the placenta.  The placenta is full of hormones – including prolactin, all of which were specifically created by the mammal that ingests it.  Prolactin is the hormone that is responsible for stimulating the mammary glands to produce milk.  Hormones would most definitely have an effect on milk production and supply.