Taiwanese-American actor Benji Wang said the dish tasted average whereas his wife found it to be delicious. Photo: Benji Wang/Instagram
Taiwanese-American actor Benji Wang and his wife Cindy welcomed their daughter, Stella, on May 12.
In an interview with TVBS News Network, Wang said he was by his wife's side during the delivery and even helped cut the umbilical cord.
The 40-year-old also revealed that he had asked a hospital staff member to pack the umbilical cord and placenta, so he could refrigerate it and cook it at home for his wife.
Wang said he made the decision after hearing that consuming the placenta can provide important micronutrients such as iron, increase milk production and beautify one's face.
On Sunday (May 14), the Intern Doctor star posted an Instagram Reel demonstrating how he cooked the dish.
In the video, Wang can be seen boiling the placenta and umbilical cord in a pot before frying them them with onions, ginger and pepper.
"This is my first time eating human flesh. I was initially very nervous when I took my first bite.
"It tastes a little like pork liver but also pork belly and intestines. The taste is pretty average," he told TVBS News Network.
Meanwhile, Cindy said she enjoyed the dish and that the placenta was "delicious and crunchy".
Placenta eating has been a popular trend worldwide, with many celebrities encapsulating, blending and cooking their placenta for rumoured health benefits.
Among the big names who ate their placenta include Kim Kardashian, Chrissy Teigen, Alicia Silverstone and Hilary Duff.
Despite the trend, experts at Mayo Clinic – a nonprofit organisation committed to clinical practice, education and research – say there's no evidence that eating the placenta provides health benefits.
Last December, registered dietitian and founder of Dietitian Fit & Co Karine Patel told Reader's Digest that ingesting placenta increases the risk of group B Streptococcus infection.
"This can be a serious and sometimes fatal infection for both the mother and baby. Even if the placenta is cooked, it doesn't completely destroy infectious bacteria and viruses that the placenta may have.
"A mother who got infected by the group B streptococcus infection after consuming infected placenta pills passed on the infection to her newborn by breastfeeding the baby," she said.
In 2017, the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) issued a warning against placenta ingestion following a case in which a newborn developed group B streptococcus after the mother took contaminated placenta pills.
