Benefits of Placenta Pills: What the Research Actually Shows

Placenta pills — capsules made from dried, ground human placenta — have attracted growing attention, particularly among new mothers exploring postpartum wellness options. Proponents claim they support mood, energy, milk supply, and recovery after birth. But what does the science actually say, and why do outcomes vary so widely from person to person?

What Are Placenta Pills?

The practice of consuming the placenta after birth is called placentophagy. While common among mammals, it's relatively rare in traditional human cultures historically, though it has been practiced in some communities for centuries.

Today, placenta pills are typically prepared through a process called maternal placentophagy encapsulation — the placenta is steamed, dehydrated, ground into powder, and placed into capsules. Some preparations are raw-dried instead. The resulting pills are taken by the birth parent during the postpartum period, usually within the first several weeks after delivery.

What Nutrients Does the Placenta Actually Contain?

The placenta is a nutrient-rich organ. Laboratory analyses have identified measurable amounts of several compounds in dried placenta, including:

The key word across all of these is variability. Nutrient content differs significantly based on the individual's health during pregnancy, the method of preparation, storage conditions, and how quickly encapsulation occurs after delivery.

What Claims Are Commonly Made — and What Does Research Show? 🔬

Commonly cited potential benefits of placenta pills include:

• Improved postpartum mood and reduced risk of postpartum depression
• Increased breast milk production
• Faster physical recovery after birth
• Reduced postpartum fatigue
• Replenishment of iron lost during delivery

Here's where the evidence stands as of current research:

The honest assessment is that rigorous scientific evidence is limited. Most studies on human placentophagy are small, observational, or self-reported — the lowest rungs of the evidence hierarchy. No large, well-controlled randomized clinical trials have established that placenta pills deliver consistent, measurable benefits for any of these outcomes.

A frequently cited 2017 study published in Women and Birth surveyed women who had consumed their placentas and found that the majority reported positive experiences. However, self-reported surveys don't control for placebo effect, expectation bias, or other postpartum variables — meaning the results can't establish that the pills caused those outcomes.

Research on hormone content specifically has raised questions about whether hormones present in the placenta survive processing at levels sufficient to have physiological effects. A 2018 UNLV study found that steaming and dehydrating the placenta significantly reduced hormone concentrations. Whether the remaining amounts meaningfully affect postpartum hormone balance remains unresolved.

On iron content: some researchers have suggested that iron replenishment is a plausible mechanism — particularly for individuals who experienced significant blood loss during delivery — but no studies have confirmed this produces outcomes measurably superior to standard iron supplementation or dietary iron sources.

Safety Considerations the Research Has Raised ⚠️

Unlike most supplements, placenta pills carry some unique safety considerations that public health organizations have flagged:

• In 2017, the CDC documented a case in which a newborn developed a recurring Group B Streptococcus infection linked to the mother's consumption of contaminated placenta capsules. The report highlighted that standard encapsulation processes may not reach temperatures sufficient to eliminate pathogens.
• The FDA does not regulate placenta encapsulation services. There is no standardized preparation protocol, and quality control varies entirely by provider.
• Because the placenta filters many substances during pregnancy, it may also concentrate environmental contaminants, heavy metals, or remnants of medications — the implications of consuming these in capsule form are not well studied.

Why Outcomes Vary So Significantly

Even among those who report positive experiences, outcomes appear to depend on a wide range of individual factors:

• Volume of blood loss during delivery — someone who lost significant blood may respond differently to iron-containing placenta capsules than someone who did not
• Baseline hormone levels postpartum — individual hormonal shifts after birth vary substantially
• Breastfeeding status — factors affecting milk supply are complex and multifactorial
• Mental health history — postpartum mood is shaped by genetics, sleep deprivation, social support, and many variables beyond nutrition
• Preparation method — raw versus steamed processing affects which compounds remain and in what concentrations
• Timing and dosage — when pills are started and how many are taken varies by provider and individual protocol

The Missing Pieces

What the current research can say with confidence is this: the placenta contains biologically active compounds and nutrients, processing affects what survives, and evidence for specific benefits in humans remains preliminary and methodologically limited. What it cannot tell you is how any of this applies to your particular postpartum health profile, your hormonal baseline, your recovery circumstances, or whether the preparation you'd access would be safe and consistent.

Those are the variables that determine whether this topic is even relevant to your situation — and they're the ones only you and a qualified healthcare provider can assess together.