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Medical Video: What If You Only Ate Human Flesh?
For those of you who are lovers of Padang cuisine, of course you are familiar with the legit savory taste of the curry of a cow's brain that shakes the tongue. So, have you ever imagined what a human brain would feel like? If you ask Hannibal Lecter, a sadistic cannibal who fortunately is only a fictional character, maybe he will be happy to recommend it for your lunch menu today.
But if you're really curious about what the human brain feels like and want to get a definite answer, just try asking the Fore tribe people in Papua New Guinea. In the past, the Fore tribe had customs to eat the body of a person who had just died at his funeral. Men eat the flesh of the deceased, while women, the elderly, and children get their brain rations. This cannibalism tradition is a form of expression of respect for the deceased during his lifetime.
Unfortunately, this practice actually brought a sad tragedy to the Fore community. Of the 11 thousand total inhabitants, more than 200 people died from eating the human brain. What is the article?
What happens if we eat the human brain?
If you find a human brain in front of you (for whatever reason) and have the opportunity to taste it, some sources estimate that you will eat 78 calories, 10 grams of fat, 11 grams of protein, and 1 gram of carbohydrate for every 100 grams of brain weight. So maybe you can be a little happy knowing that what you eat turns out to be pretty nutrient dense.
But even though it's nutritious, eating a human brain can kill you. That's because the human brain contains a strange protein molecule called prion, which causes you to suffer from a terrible degenerative disease called "Kuru". The word "kuru" comes from the local Fore language which means "trembling to death". Kuru belongs to a group of progressive neurodegenerative diseases (TSE), which also includes mad cow disease.
Although prions are naturally produced in all the brains of mammals, these proteins can change themselves to make them betray the host's body - acting like a virus that attacks healthy tissue. Often this causes deadly damage.
Once you first experience the symptoms of Kuru, you will only have to count the days to meet death. Initial symptoms include difficulty walking, loss of control of the limbs, involuntary jerking movements like seizures, insomnia, confusion, severe headaches, and memory problems. Gradually you will also lose control of emotions, which leads to signs of psychosis, depression, and personality changes. Within a year, you can no longer get up and stand from the floor, eat alone, or control all bodily functions. This disease usually leads to death for several months to several years.
Even more sinister, although the cannibalistic customs of the Fore tribe have been stopped more than 50 years ago, the new case of Kuru has continued to appear for years afterwards. This is because prions can take decades to show their real effects. It was noted that the last person who died from Kuru died in 2009, but it was not until the end of 2012 that this terrible epidemic was officially declared extinct.
And according to the researchers, the process involved in the formation of diseases caused by prions is probably responsible for the deadly effects of all types of degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and dementia. What, still want to try to eat the human brain?
