Hungry for placenta? Tom Cruise says 'YES!'

I not too big on inane celebrity gossip, but this is one was too juicy to pass up ;-)

In a recent interview with GQ magazine Tom Cruise revealed he's going to eat the placenta of the baby he's having with Katie Holmes.

"I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there."

Hmmm, I have the feeling this isn't going help to correct his growing image as a massive nutjob. Let's see, a cultish devotion to Scientology, a hatred of psychiatry, manic behavior in public, and now a placenta eating advocate. I don't think Cruise is going to be getting many scripts for playing the 'everyman' type of role anytime soon. I can definitely see some 'character' roles opening up for him though.


The Independent actually just posted a pretty lengthy article on the merits of placenta eating. Apparently, there's actually quite a few websites out there advocating placenta consumption for it's nutritional and supposedly positive ritualistic aspects. Some claim that placentophagy can help stave off postpartum depression. You can find some interesting placenta recipes here. This one article talks about other uses of placenta, such as for ritualistic burial or even placenta art:

Yes, you can make art out of it. Generally mothers talk about placenta prints. After the birth you take a piece of paper and lay the placenta on it. If it is fresh you can let the blood and amniotic fluid leave the print or others choose to use paints to add color. Now what? Well, hang your framed art or store it for safekeeping.

While I don't think I'll be purchasing a placenta print anytime soon, it does seem to be a bit of a waste to throw away what was once such a valuable organ. One interesting argument in favour of human placentophagy was that it's the only form of meat you don't have to kill or harm anything to consume. Interesting point. Perhaps there's a market for placenta consumption among the moral Veggies out there?