Junk food addiction linked to Black Death: plague is to blame

Do you like junk food? The Black Death is to blame for everything, according to a new study: scientists claim that the plague, which killed 60% of Europeans, changed the bacteria in the mouth. The epidemic that devastated Europe in the 14th century led to our love of junk food. Experts have discovered that it was the plague that changed the bacteria that live in our mouths today.

Research suggests the Black Death may have contributed to our current love affair with junk food, writes the Daily Mail.

The second plague pandemic of the mid-14th century, also known as the Black Death, killed up to 60 percent of people living in Europe and profoundly changed the course of history. The disease caused fever, fatigue and vomiting, as well as large, painful tumors called buboes on the hips, neck, armpits and groin.

But experts now suggest that the ancient plague may also be linked to our current love of junk food – due to changes in diet and hygiene during this period.

Analysis of calcified plaque from skeletons dating back thousands of years has revealed that the dominant bacteria found in the mouth today are associated with low-fiber, high-carbohydrate diets and consumption of dairy products.

According to the researchers, this is common in modern diets such as junk food and other unhealthy foods, and world events such as the Black Death may have triggered the dominance of these bacteria.

Changes in diet and hygiene during the epidemic are thought to have affected our oral microbiome – the community of microorganisms, mainly bacteria, that live in our mouths.

This mixture of bacteria in the body is known to be linked to the health of the immune system, heart and brain, but can also be linked to certain diseases, writes the Daily Mail.

The study, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, was led by scientists from Pennsylvania State University in the US and the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Professor Laura Weirich, from the University of Pennsylvania, said: “Modern microbiomes are associated with a wide range of chronic diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular disease and poor mental health. Identifying the origins of these microbial communities may help to understand and treat these diseases.”

Her team collected material from the teeth of 235 people who were buried at 27 archaeological sites in England and Scotland from around 2200 BC. to 1835 AD, continues Daily Mail

After processing the samples, the researchers identified 954 species of microorganisms, which were classified into two distinct bacterial communities.

One was dominated by the genus Streptococcus, which is commonly found in the mouths of modern humans, and the other was dominated by the genus Methanobrevibacter, which is now largely thought to be extinct in healthy humans.

The analysis found that nearly 11 percent of the changes in microbiomes they found could be explained by changes throughout history, including the advent of the Black Death.

“We know that survivors of the second plague had higher incomes and were able to afford more nutritious foods,” explains Professor Weirich. “The pandemic may have caused changes in people’s diets, which in turn influenced the composition of their cavity microbiome mouth. This is the first time anyone has shown that the microbes in our bodies could be influenced by events such as past pandemics.”