<p>You might be referring to <strong><a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease-Fact-Sheet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease</a></strong> (CJD). It is transmitted through exposure to brain tissue and spinal cord fluid from infected individuals. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>CJD is characterized by rapidly <strong>progressive dementia</strong>. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>The leading scientific theory at this time maintains that CJD and the other <a href="http://www.who.int/bloodproducts/tse/en/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">transmissible spongiform encephalopathies</a> (TSEs) are caused by a type of protein called a prion.</p>

<p>CJD is indeed caused by prions: proteins that occur in both a normal form, which is a harmless protein found in the body’s cells, and in an infectious form, which causes disease. The harmless and infectious forms of the prion protein have the same sequence of amino acids, but the infectious form of the protein takes a different folded shape than the normal protein. Sporadic CJD may develop because some of a person’s normal prions spontaneously change into the infectious form of the protein and then alter the prions in other cells in a chain reaction. </p>

<p><sub><strong>Sources</strong><br>
<strong>-</strong> <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease-Fact-Sheet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NIH Fact Sheet</a><br>
<strong>-</strong> <a href="http://www.who.int/bloodproducts/tse/en/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">WHO</a></sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-28T19:34:42.697Z
2018-03-29T08:13:30.430Z
2018-03-29T08:13:30.430Z
AliceD
<p>A psychiatrist once told me to avoid eating bone marrow because it could contain prions that could cause dementia. However, I haven't been able to find any studies that confirm this. Could this happen?</p>

<neuroscience><neurology>
Is it possible to develop dementia by eating bone marrow?
Hlkwtz
# Is it possible to develop dementia by eating bone marrow?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-28)

A psychiatrist once told me to avoid eating bone marrow because it could contain prions that could cause dementia. However, I haven't been able to find any studies that confirm this. Could this happen?

**Tags:** neuroscience, neurology


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-03-28. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

You might be referring to **[Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease](https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease-Fact-Sheet)** (CJD). It is transmitted through exposure to brain tissue and spinal cord fluid from infected individuals.

> CJD is characterized by rapidly **progressive dementia**.

The leading scientific theory at this time maintains that CJD and the other [transmissible spongiform encephalopathies](http://www.who.int/bloodproducts/tse/en/) (TSEs) are caused by a type of protein called a prion.

CJD is indeed caused by prions: proteins that occur in both a normal form, which is a harmless protein found in the body’s cells, and in an infectious form, which causes disease. The harmless and infectious forms of the prion protein have the same sequence of amino acids, but the infectious form of the protein takes a different folded shape than the normal protein. Sporadic CJD may develop because some of a person’s normal prions spontaneously change into the infectious form of the protein and then alter the prions in other cells in a chain reaction.

**Sources**  
**-** [NIH Fact Sheet](https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease-Fact-Sheet)  
**-** [WHO](http://www.who.int/bloodproducts/tse/en/)


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