College of Public Health and Human Sciences

To the Editor:

We respond to the recent publication of Benyshek et al entitled “Placentophagy among women planning community births in the United States: Frequency, rationale, and associated neonatal outcomes.”1 The authors used data collected through the Midwives Alliance of North American Statistics Project (MANA Stats) to analyze demographic characteristics and motivations of women who engage in placentophagy. They evaluated neonatal outcomes of women who consumed their placenta and compared it to those who did not. This question is important considering a recent warning issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) due to a case in which a newborn infant developed recurrent neonatal group B Streptococcus (GBS) sepsis after the mother ingested GBS‐contaminated placenta capsules.2