'It's like a super power': Why boxer Nikita Tszyu is eating his wife's placenta

Australian boxer Nikita Tszyu has revealed the unusual way his wife and newborn baby are helping him prepare for an upcoming fight.

Tszyu, the son of former world champion Kostya Tszyu and the younger brother of Tim Tszyu, revealed on a podcast this morning he has been preparing for the bout by ingesting capsules containing his wife's placenta and drinking her breastmilk.

The athlete, 27, was on Triple M Breakfast with Beau, Cat & Woodsy when attention turned to preparations for his August 20 bout against Michael Zerafa after a long period away from the ring due to a hand injury.

Watch the video above.

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"So for those who don't know, I just had a baby, a daughter," Tszyu began.

"And my wife, we freeze-dried her placenta and I have been supplementing on her placenta recently.

"So I have technically become ... a cannibal.

"You know, it is actually like a super power. I have done some tests with my sparring days where I have had it and days where I haven't, and I feel like I have got all this crazy amount of energy."

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As well as feasting on his wife's placenta, which had been made into capsules, he admitted he had also been drinking her breastmilk, and said apart from the health benefits "it's delicious as well".

Elsewhere in the interview, Tszyu admitted his daughter had changed his life.

He said during a particularly tough training session when he had no more strength to draw on, his grandfather suggested he "do it for your little chicken".

"I nickname her my little chicken, and it brought me a whole bunch of energy.

"She also looks exactly like me when I was a baby, we are identical. It is beautiful and motivating just looking in her eyes."

Tszyu married Nikita Bedwell in a secret ceremony in January and in June they welcomed a daughter they named Curiosity.

Tszyu, a former junior national champion boxer who turned professional in 2022 – exactly 30 years after his father's first professional fight – once admitted to eating a snake's heart and drinking its blood.

A host of other celebrities have admitted to eating their placenta, including Australian-born US Dancing with the Stars performer Sharna Burgess, who welcomed son Zane with actor Brian Austin Green in 2022.

Kim and Kourtney Kardashian also admitted ingesting their placentas.

Just last week, Bec Judd's best friend and podcast co-host Jess Roberts said she had eaten some of her sister-in-law's placenta after they wok-fried it with seasonings and garlic.

Meanwhile, former Former Teen Mom star Kailyn Lowry made hers into a smoothie and artwork.

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration says on its website it was aware companies offered expectant mothers services for the preparation of the placenta for consumption; a practice known as placentophagy.

"There is currently no evidence to support the claims of health benefits associated with consuming human placenta, and the broader risks are unknown," it said.

"Human placenta is a biological material and is capable of containing and transmitting infectious agents, including bacteria and viruses."

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