What are the effects of long-term cannibalism?

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sgrannel
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Age: 48
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07 Apr 2011, 11:00 am

Would you be relieved or offended if someone told you that you wouldn't make for good eating?

Humans are "top predators", and these accumulate certain toxins. That was the problem with DDT and the eagle eggs. Environmental toxins accumulate in plants. Herbivores eat the plants and concentrate the toxins. 1st level carnivores eat the herbivores and concentrate the toxins further. Top predators that also eat carnivores and omnivores will have the highest concentration of toxins like heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants. Then there's all the medications that people take. I can imagine a person wouldn't be too tasty after having chemo. Even in the absence of pollutants and medicines, certain organs of carnivores and top predators such as the liver must be avoided because they will contain toxic concentrations of vitamin A, which while a necessary nutrient, will poison you if you eat too much of it. An article says the human liver doesn't contain so much, but I'd still avoid it.

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/eat-polar-bear-liver.htm

Then there's heart disease and blockages elsewhere in the circulatory system. If you eat too much of any meat, especially meat with a lot of saturated fat, your arteries will slowly occlude and you'll have problems. This might not be an issue if you practice your cannibalism in a country where the people are skinny, but we've got some real butterballs around here, and I can't imagine they'd make for healthy eating.


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