A new study has found that while human flesh can provide life-saving nutrients in extreme circumstances, relying on it long-term can spread incurable diseases, making it biologically non-viable.
Study Finds Cannibalism Unsustainable
Scientists say the epidemiological costs of eating human flesh far outweigh the calorific benefits. They believe cannibalism's taboo status may stem not from revulsion but from its impact on populations.
Study author Petr Tureček said: “Our model clearly demonstrates that regular cannibalism is unsustainable for human populations in the long run.”
Mathematical Modelling Reveals Risks
He and Dr Michał Misiak, both of Charles University in Czechia, used mathematical modelling to test what would happen if humans practised cannibalism regularly. The researchers point especially to pathogens like heat-resistant prions, notorious for causing fatal brain diseases, as a key danger.
The verdict was grim: it’s biologically non-viable. In their paper, they say these constraints help explain cannibalism’s “episodic occurrence” and the widespread rise of powerful taboos.
Cannibalism Linked to Extreme Starvation
They also stress that modelling individual “payoffs” would need a different framework and is beyond the scope of the study. The researchers found that cannibalism arises primarily from extreme, life-threatening starvation, mirroring biblical accounts of sieges where food supplies are nonexistent.
For example, Deuteronomy 28:53 warns that during siege and hardship people will “eat the fruit of your own womb”, and Leviticus 26:29 carries a similar warning.
