WARSAW: Cannibalism became taboo in human so­­­­­c­­­ieties not out of instinctive aversion but because it is harmful to populations who practise it, scientists from Poland and the Czech Republic have found.

Michal Misiak of the Uni­­­versity of Wroclaw and Petr Turecek of Charles Un­­­­i­­­v­­­­ersity in Prague used a mathematical model to show that the long-term pr­­a­­­­­­­ctice of cannibalism can lead to population collapse by causing illnesses in those who eat other people.

“We looked at the hum­an body as a potential sou­rce of food, analysing both energy gains and hidden co­­­­­sts,” Misiak said in a sta­t­e­­ment released on Wedne­sday by Wroclaw University. “From a caloric perspective, a person turns out to be an average meal ... The key problem, however, lies elsewhere: the risk of infection. Pathogens have an ea­­s­­ier task because they end up in an organism with al­­­m­­ost identical physiology.” Their model shows the risk of disease rises exponentially when cannibals consume other cannibals, as ev­­en cooking does not eliminate prions, or misfolded proteins, that can cause fatal neurological diseases.

One of these, kuru, was once common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, who cooked and ate their deceased relatives, believing they were freeing the spirit of the dead person.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2026