Prions are scary as hell. Can I become infected with a prion from drinking bone broth (chicken, beef or lamb) or are the risks about the same as eating a cheeseburger from McDonald’s?
In: Biology
You are significantly more likely to contract bubonic plague that vCJD, especially if you live outside the United Kingdom. There have only ever been 4 cases of food-acquired prion diseases ever reported in the US and none of them were contracted in the US. There have been no cases reported worldwide of vCJD in the last 5 years. You are basically more likely to be elected president than you are to die of vCJD. It’s about as rare as rare diseases get.
When did everyone start using the term bone broth.. what happened to…. [beef/chicken/etc]Stock?
As far as I am aware, a mutation can happen and it appears naturally in humans. Also don’t eat human brains as it’s a good way of passing it on.
They are, and it is possible! But _extremely unlikely_, and you’re probably better off putting your fear in… Just about anything else really, unless you’re involved in the butchering of animals yourself – in which case follow the rules and don’t eat brain material or let it mix in your product!
In the USA, only [six cases of “mad cow disease” have happened since 2006](https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/cattle/bse#:~:text=The%20only%20classical%20BSE%20case,last%20on%20was%20in%202023.&text=The%20United%20States%20has%20strong,and%20public%20health%20from%20BSE.)
For comparison on just how dangerous that is, every year about 30 people die from escalator related injuries and a couple people die every year from tipping over vending machines (take that statistic with a grain of salt, I couldn’t find a great primary source for it while I wait for the toaster to finish). In that light, buying a soda isn’t just more likely to kill you on the spot than catching a prion disease from food, it’s several dozen times more likely.
As long as you’re not in the habit of eating brains, the risk is effectively zero. Slurp all the broth and bone marrow you like. You’re at higher odds of catching a meteorite to the head than getting prion disease from animal bones.
The best way to limit exposure while still eating meat is to not eat brains or ground meats. Stick to whole cuts of muscle. The best way is to not eat meat
Just follow the general rules;
Don’t eat brains and spines at the very least not from mammals.
Don’t eat mammals that eat mammals, this is hardest because for some ungodly reason we’ve decided to feed pigs meat and occasionally other cattle meat too.
That will I’ve heard lower the risk of prions and other pathogens.
What a strange thing to be worried about
There are millions of meals served with bone broth on the regular.
You are fine dude, worry about some real problems lol
No, you get them from eating brains, they’re amyloid plaque proteins but they’re only in the brain from memory.
I’m gonna be blunt and mean here. Apologies in advance. Fuck your what ifs get help and get Meds. You are mentally destroying yourself with scenarios that just are not gonna happen. I get that you have ocd but this constant cycle of stress IS doing more damage to you than any of these scenarios you can think of that MIGHT happen. There is help out there that knows a hell of a lot more than you do after 5 mins on Google. This.stress.will.kill.you
The chances of dying from prions in the UK are astronomically low there. The last reported case of vCJD, according to the National Institute of Health, was in 2016, which was a better part of a decade ago
And if you’re from the US since 1996, there have been only 4 cases. The last report from the cdc listed it as 2012.
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