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Presenter Anna Williamson plans to eat 'placenta pills' after childbirth

Television presenter Anna Williamson who is planning to eat her own "encapsulated" placenta in an attempt to ward off post-natal depression. Picture: Ian West/PA Wire
Television presenter Anna Williamson who is planning to eat her own "encapsulated" placenta in an attempt to ward off post-natal depression. Picture: Ian West/PA Wire Television presenter Anna Williamson who is planning to eat her own "encapsulated" placenta in an attempt to ward off post-natal depression. Picture: Ian West/PA Wire

TELEVISION presenter Anna Williamson is planning to eat her own "encapsulated" placenta in an attempt to ward off post-natal depression.

Williamson, who is expecting her first child with husband Alex Di Pasquale this month, has joined a growing number of women using placenta pills.

Other famous names who have embraced the trend include Coleen Rooney, Kim Kardashian and January Jones.

The National Lottery Awards presenter admitted she was initially squeamish about the idea, explaining: "Before I got pregnant, I'd read stories and seen TV programmes about women who had decided to eat theirs after giving birth. My first reaction was 'Eughh!' My second was, 'Why?!"'

But in an article for parenting blog TantrumXYZ, Williamson revealed she had come around to the idea as she heard about its alleged ability to "help stave off the dreaded post-natal depression".

Williamson, who is an outspoken campaigner for the awareness and destigmatisation of mental health problems, has an increased risk of developing post-natal depression than someone who has not suffered from anxiety.

"I'm delighted, and very lucky, to say that I've had a fairly straightforward pregnancy," she wrote.

"But I'd be lying if I said there hadn't been a few days along the way where the old anxious and low mood 'black cloud' feelings have threatened to creep back in."

Williamson now has a plan in place to turn her placenta into "magic pills".

"Eating a great hulk of meat, particularly if it's come from inside me, is never going to happen," she admitted.

"But there is a way of getting these apparently PND-busting nutrients into me, after the baby is born, in a palatable way."

A "reputable company" with "stringent hygiene standards" will turn the placenta into capsules for Williamson to eat for the sum of £185.

She explained: "On the day I give birth, my husband will give my midwife the printed-out instructions from the 'placenta lady', which has clear pointers on how to prepare and store the placenta in the airtight container and cool bag which is provided in advance, and then we call her straight away.

"She will personally drive to the hospital, collect the 'placenta package' and take it back to her lab to be steamed, dehydrated and grounded into pills."

Williamson added: "I'm yet to be proven satisfied whether these magic placenta pills can actually live up to the hype. But, with my mental health history, I'm not taking any chances."