Diet of human brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe to resist disease

The investigation of a Papua New Guinea tribe, formerly infamous for eating human brains as part of their elaborate funerary rights, has provided insights into the development of mad cow disease and similar ailments.

Scientists from Britain and Papua New Guinea have been studying members of the Fore tribe and have discovered that their diet, which formerly included eating human brains at relatives funerals, enabled them to develop genetic resistance to a disease called kuru, which is similar to the famous ‘mad cow disease’. The research may also assist in the development of new treatments to ‘prion’ diseases, which include conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease and dementia.

Kuru first became known to the wider world after a district medical officer working in New Guinea noticed that some of the people of the Fore tribe, who live in the uplands of Papua New Guinea, were being struck down by a mysterious and fatal debilitating disease. The victims of this disease initially lost their ability to walk and this would be followed by an inability to swallow or chew. In turn, this led to weight loss and death. The disease was called by the tribe ‘kuru’, meaning “trembling in fear”. At its height, the disease caused the death of around 2 percent of the tribe per year.