Can Eating Your Placenta Help With Postpartum Hair Loss?

The heavily pregnant reality star Kim Kardashian is rumoured to be one of a number of soon-to-be mothers who are considering eating their placenta after they have given birth. It has been claimed, amongst the supposed health benefits, that eating the placenta can help with hair loss.

Certain doctors are touting this unusual experience as a good way to recover post-birth, due to the fact that the placenta is rich in iron and nutrients, and therefore a way of replenishing the blood lost in childbirth. Doctors have also proposed that the placenta contains hormones that can help boost the mother's mood, increase energy levels and alleviate pain.

Placenta=Painless?

Speaking to website Hollybaby.com, Aleks Evanguelidi, a midwife and clinical director at the Sanctuary Birth & Wellness Center, said: “The placenta offers tremendous health benefits, including replenishing blood loss, helping with hair loss, helping with milk production and balancing the hormones. My clients...feel more energetic after giving birth, they are less prone to postpartum depression and the speed of recovery is much faster."

However, whilst some of these claims may well be true, the MHRA and FDA, the UK and US medical regulatory bodies respectively, have not licensed the placenta as a treatment for anything, including hair loss. Postpartum alopecia is very common in women after they have given birth, but the reasons behind it do not relate to nutrient deficiencies or anything potentially remedied by ingesting something.

Postpartum hair loss actually occurs due to more hairs than usual remaining in the growth phase during pregnancy, meaning that a women's hair becomes thicker. After birth, this extra hair sheds. This hair loss should fix itself within six months, but if it doesn't, other forms of hair loss may be to blame.

Too Good To Be True

Pregnancy and childbirth can trigger the condition telogen effluvium, which again should only lead to short term hair loss, although a second condition known as alopecia areata can also be triggered, which can have more long term consequences.

It's also possible that hair loss from childbirth has coincided with the onset of female pattern hair loss, which requires treatment to halt the rate of shedding and to regrow the thinning area, as this type of hair loss will not fix itself. Many types of women's hair loss can be treated with the one medication that has been approved by the UK and US medical regulatory bodies: minoxidil.

High strength minoxidil is a topical product that stimulates hair regrowth on the scalp when applied directly. So, whilst eating your placenta has no clinically proven benefits in terms of treating hair loss, a bespoke Belgravia hair loss treatment programme does. Along with the proven medication, a variety of treatment boosters that range from the nutritional supplement Hair Vitalics to the FDA cleared Laser Comb help to ensure all-round hair health.