Picured here is a fresh placenta just taken out a woman's womb. It could have been big meal for Cruise.(file photo)

   BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhuanet)-- Tom Cruise boasted about eating fianc¨¨e Katie Holmes's placenta when baby Cruise is born, Cruise said in an interview.

    The Mission: Impossible III actor, 43, said: "I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I am gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there"

    But when it was pointed out it would be a very big meal, he retorted: "OK. Maybe I won't."

   Though some claim that eating afterbirth may help prevent post-partum depression, it won't help the mom if dad eats it.  

Placentophagia, eating the placenta, is practised in many cultures, but it is less common in western society. In 1998 a British TV chef fried a placenta and served it to his guests.

     The baby, rumored to be a girl, is due any day and the couple plan to wed in the summer. They have been engaged since last June.

    With the little one expected soon, speculations surrounding Katie Holmes' childbirth have been flying high.

    Cruise and Holmes are professed followers of the Church of Scientology, which stipulates "silent birth".

   

This undated photo, supplied by Paramount Pictures, shows Tom Cruise and Michelle Monaghan in a scene from 'Mission Impossible III,' an action thriller set for summer 2006 release. (Paramount Pictures photo)

Last week Cruise told US chat show host Diane Sawyer that 27-year-old Holmes, in the final stages of her pregnancy with their first child, will practice "quiet birth."

    Cruise explained that "quiet birth," which aims to minimize talk and other noise inside the delivery room," is "basically just respecting the mother."

    "She does what she's gotta do," he explained,  addressing speculation that such a practice would deny her pain medication. "If she needs medicine, she needs medicine."

    According to the tenets of Scientology, words spoken during birth and other painful times may traumatize the infant.

    "It's all about no talking, no unnecessary talking during the delivery -- and that way the mother is calm and she's got a lot of work to do, but there's no problem with her making noise. It's just no spoken words," said Pat Felske, a spokesperson for the Church of Scientology of Toronto, who has had four children with the silent birth method.

    As medical staff are also instructed not to speak, they must communicate using gestures and hand signals.Enditem

    (Agencies)