(SNN London) Tom Cruise, the Hollywood star whose finance is due to give birth any day, told a US magazine that he plans to eat the placenta of his new born and expects it to be very nutritious.

'Has Tom finally flipped?'

This begs the question, 'Has Tom finally flipped?' According to a poll on Parade.com, the answer is no. When asked by Parade if Tom's bad image was the fault of the media or of Tom, over 84% said it was the fault of the media. However, Parade's publicist pointed out after the poll that 10 computers were responsible for over 77% of the votes, about 14,000. In addition, machines beyond those 10 showed an inordinate volume of votes. From these results, it's obvious that Tom's friends are very generous and willing to share their computers with several thousand people.

Placenta eating is considered a little odd

While placenta eating is considered a little odd, it is not illegal. In 1998, chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall cooked a placenta on his BBC Channel 4 program and served it at a dinner party. The placenta was fried with shallots and garlic, flambéed, puréed and served as a pate on focaccia bread. It has been widely speculated that Cruise's popularity could push the dish back into the mainstream.

In the wild, mammals bite through the umbilical cord and eat the placenta straight after the birth. This is likely to be the method used by Cruise.

posted by NewsBlog 5000  # Tuesday, April 18, 2006