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Medicinal cannibalism - The use of the human body as medicine in Europe gained popularity during the Renaissance period.

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Medicinal cannibalism - Particularly during the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans started to use human blood, bones, and fat as key ingredients to cure a number of conditions.

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Middle Ages - But Europe's affair with cannibalism is an old one. Famines in Europe have led to it in the Middle Ages. Starving Crusaders were also known to eat their dead enemies. And in Egypt for instance, human flesh was even pickled and jarred.

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Romans - But way before these medicinal practices boomed in Europe, the Romans were known to drink gladiators' blood and eat their livers as a cure for epilepsy.

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Mummies - It all started with mummies. These were actually stolen from Egyptian tombs and brought to Europe. In fact, these could even be found in a German medical catalog.

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Mummy flesh - English physician Robert James' 'Pharmacopoeia Universalis' mentions that the flesh of a mummy can be used to cure a number of things, from a cough to menstrual problems.

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Tombs were raided - The demand for human bones saw gravediggers jump on the bandwagon. They started stealing and selling body parts.

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"Cadaver of a reddish man" - German pharmacologist Johann Schröder published instructions on how to process a human body. This included sprinkling it with myrrh and aloe.

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King Charles II of England - The king used to sip on "The King’s Drops," which consisted of a tincture containing human skulls and alcohol.

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Magic moss - Usnea, a type of moss that grows over buried skulls, was used to cure nosebleeds and epilepsy.

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Human heart - British preacher John Keogh claimed it was great for treating dizziness and improving strength.

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Fat bandages - In Germany, patients were prescribed bandages soaked in human fat to treat wounds.

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Rubbing fat - Human fat was also rubbed into the skin to treat gout.

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Skull and chocolate cocktail - In the 17th century, English doctor Thomas Willis invented a drink that mixed powdered human skull and chocolate. 

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Fat candle - It was believed that a candle made of human fat could leave people dazed and paralyzed. 

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You could cook it too - There's a recipe from 1679 on how to make marmalade using human blood.

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Sweet skull - Mixing skulls with treacle (molasses) was believed to help cure epilepsy.

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Fresh blood - While drinking fresh blood was recommended, not everyone could afford it. Poor people would attend executions and then buy cups of blood from the executioner.

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Blood entrepreneurs - This led some people to take advantage of the fresh executions. They would collect the blood and sell it.  

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Fountain of youth - Italian priest Marsilio Ficino, advised the elderly to drink the blood of young people as a way of fighting against the effects of ageing.

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Pope Innocent VIII - While on his deathbed, the pope was given the blood of three boys. Reportedly, both the boys and the pope died.

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Transubstantiation - Protestants accused Catholics of cannibalistic beliefs. During Holy Communion, the bread and wine are supposed to represent the body and blood of Christ.

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Modern medicine - While we're no longer drinking people's blood or eating their corpses, we're still using humans to cure humans.

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Blood transplants - Blood transplants is akin to what we were doing in the past, except, we're doing it properly—not exactly doing shots of fresh blood.

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Organ transplants - Yet another way we use another human's body for medical purposes. 

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Placenta - Some women eat their own placenta after giving birth. This is a common practice in many parts of the world. 

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Stem cells - Stem cells are also a promising solution in modern medicine to treat a number of conditions.

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See also - How dark were the Middle Ages, really?

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