What would be the consequences of consuming human brains? Obviously we do not approve of doing it in any case, but we can investigate and deepen it as a scientific curiosity. Calories come first, of course. Some sources estimate that we would ingest “78 calories, 10 grams of fat, 11 grams of protein, and 1 gram of carbohydrates” for every 100 grams of brain weight.
Diseases
Historically, eating brains has been associated with a neurological disorder called transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), which is quite rare. Here we could include Kuru (cannibal disease), bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rather rare, degenerative and deadly brain disorder that affects a per million people, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Common symptoms of TSEs or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies include personality changes, involuntary jerking movements, unusual sensations, insomnia, confusion, severe headaches, and memory problems. Other possible side effects include psychiatric problems such as depression, poor coordination, and an unsteady gait. There is currently no treatment that can stop the progression of any of the TSEs, but these diseases generally culminate in the death of the patient within a few months to a few years.
The human brain is the most formidable organ we have. You can process information on a daily basis, from remembering the names of acquaintances to learning a new skill on the job. The average human brain weighs between 1,300 and 1,500 grams and is 16.7 centimeters (cm) long, 9.3 cm high, and 14 cm wide.
60% of its dry weight is fat, making it the fattest organ in the body. It uses 20% of our daily oxygen and calorie needs. The powerful brain has the capacity to produce approximately 500 milliliters (ml) of cerebrospinal fluid per day.
Ingesting the last frontier of science
If we ate the brain of someone (or any other part of a human being) who is carrying a disease, there is a possibility that we will contract that disease. If we cook that part of the body, there is also evidence that certain forms of disease caused by what are known as “prions” – an infectious agent made up of a protein – might not be destroyed by cooking. Thus, the possibility of contracting a disease is higher than if we ate any other animal.
The example of the Fore Tribe
Until the 1960s, the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea consumed their dead as part of a funeral ritual. However, they stopped this ritual because, in a strange twist of fate, scientists discovered that when they ate human brains, they could contract a disease known as Kuru, which wreaks havoc on the brain’s gray matter, leaving it like a deformed sponge.
The incubation period can last from a few years to a maximum of 60, but once it begins, the affected person only has a few years to live.
So, in addition to the obvious ethical reasons, the ingestion of human brains is completely out of the question for health reasons.
