A mother admitted eating her own placenta after blending it into a smoothie, saying it helped her complexion, hair, and nails look better.
Desiree Van Nice, a 24-year-old single mother from Los Angeles, California, devoured the organ in 2020 after giving birth to her daughter Stella. Her acts have shocked and appalled many people online.
Desiree claims she ingested her placenta since a family member had done the same thing before. The placenta is an organ that forms in the uterus during pregnancy and feeds the growing baby with nutrition and oxygen.
Despite its ‘slimy’ and ‘lumpy’ texture – which she admitted made it hard for her to get down – Desiree has insisted that it left her ‘feeling great.’
She blended the placenta with mango, blueberries, peaches, pineapple, and coconut milk while filming and uploading the video to TikTok, where it quickly gained popularity.
With over 111,000 views, the video instantly attracted criticism for Desiree, with some calling her a “cannibal” and others saying she consumed it for internet attention only.
The 24-year-old is unfazed by the criticism and believes that by uploading the video to the video-streaming website, she can mainstream eating the placenta after giving delivery.
She was seen in the TikTok combining the ingredients to create a reddish-pink cocktail before pouring it into a glass.
The placenta was prepped by her husband, 32-year-old Matthew Del Valle, before she chopped it up and made a smoothie out of it.
‘It was yum,’ she captioned the post.
‘But it wouldn’t fully blend, and [was] chunky and [didn’t] fit through the straw,’ she added. ‘[It was] slimy and lumpy.
‘But I think it’s important for women to look into different things when it comes to pregnancy instead of following what everyone else is doing.
‘There [are] natural benefits everywhere and we might as well take advantage.’
Desiree described the flavour as being “like a smoothie with a tiny iron taste.”