Eating human brains helped Papua New Guinea tribe resist disease, research shows

The cannibalistic practice helped the Fore tribe develop genetic resistance to a mad cow-like disease. This is useful for scientists studying diseases like dementia

Research involving a former brain-eating tribe from Papua New Guinea is helping scientists better understand mad cow disease and other so-called prion conditions and may also offer insights into Parkinson's and dementia.

People of the Fore tribe, studied by scientists from Britain and Papua New Guinea, have developed genetic resistance to a mad cow-like disease called kuru, which was spread mostly by the now abandoned ritual of eating relatives' brains at funerals.