Gross Therapies and Organic Skincare!!

I still remember when I was 13 and saw the movie “threads” at school about the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. The images from that movie are still engrained in my mind decades later as being horrific and not something I want to experience in real life.One of the most shocking things for me as a 13 year old was seeing a young girl giving birth to a baby and then ....what did she just do? Did she actually eat her Placenta?!! Yuk..err! oh my god!

I can’t remember for sure, maybe she did or maybe she didn’t, or maybe I picked it up from anthropological studies at University. But since then the idea that women can and do eat their placenta after birth in some cultures is not so shocking. And why not, its supposedly very nutritious as it’s full of protein, iron and other nutrients. In the animal world, nothing goes to waste, so why should this.

Nutritionist Susannah Lawson explains that 'The high iron content is useful for women who have had a traumatic birth and lost a lot of blood. Zinc is also important, partly because a woman transfers a large amount of zinc to the baby just before birth to prime its immune system.'

Other by products from our bodies are also considered beneficial for us. For instance, some cultures also follow rituals such as Urine therapy, for healing. It is considered each individuals own blueprint for healing themself. Ranging from soaking your feet in it, bathing in it to even drinking it. Believers will tell you that it is the cure you have been looking for. I have come across people who swear by it, and have actually used the therapy successfully. For everything from curing Cancer to less sever complaints, it’s meant to help.

I myself have to draw the line at ingestion. I don’t think I could eat or drink Urine or Placenta, but maybe rubbing it on my skin wouldn’t be so bad, unless of course I had a life threatening illness, when I guess I’d try anything! After all, we use products that contain petrochemicals, animal by products and toxins, so why should by products from our own body be less appealing?

On Channel 4 chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall fried, flambeed and pureed the placenta of a new mother and served it up to celebrate the birth of her young daughter, it sounds so wrong, but maybe we are becoming too removed from what is actually good for us.

The latest craze is skin cream that contains extracts of Placenta. The glitzy Hollywood set who would gladly use Botox would not flinch at this latest addition, on the contrary it adds that little bit of extreme style to their skin care routine. Urine extracts already exist in some creams, roll on Placenta.

Not for the faint hearted, Arsenal striker Robin van Persie showed us how its done recently when he flew out to Belgrade yesterday to meet a Serbian housewife who rubbed his leg with fluid from a horse's placenta to treat his ruptured ankle ligaments. Mariana Kovacevic has apparently already treated two of Van Persie's former Dutch teammates, one of whom recovered in just a week from an injury doctors assured him would keep him off the pitch for at least a month

So, is this organic? Technically yes. But I’m not sure if the Soil Association could certify a cream as organic if it contained Placenta! And all the ethical guru’s would surely have something to say about its use. Do they use animal placenta in these creams? In which case they could be depriving animals from vital nutrients that they would consume themselves, or would they use human placenta donated by willing new mums? Maybe the later would be more ethical and acceptable.

In the meantime I can’t claim to be selling anything with Placenta or Urine in it, but I’m sure you would be able to get some at Harrods or Selfridges. I’d certainly give it a try to see how it worked!!