Marriage between close biological relatives is generally regarded with suspicion and distaste within Western society, reflecting historical and religious prejudice. By comparison, in many other populations there is a strong preference for consanguineous unions, most frequently contracted between first cousins, and marriage outside the family is perceived as a risky and disruptive option. The in...

A high occurrence rate of consanguineous marriages may favour the onset and increased frequency of autosomal recessive diseases in a population. The population of Monte Santo, Bahia, Brazil, has a high frequency of rare genetic diseases such as mucopolysaccharidosis type VI, whose observed frequency in this population is 1:5000, while the incidence of this disease recorded in other regions of t...

Marriage between close biological kin is widely regarded as genetically disadvantageous in contemporary western societies, but consanguineous unions remain preferential in north africa, the Middle east and large parts of asia, with marriage between first cousins particularly popular. Many major populations also are subdivided into endogamous communities that have distinctive breeding pools. it ...

Major problems can arise when a term with a quite specific scientific definition becomes part of everyday speech. A prime example of this phenomenon is the word mutation, acknowledged within science as denoting a change in genetic structure and the driving force of evolution. But to members of the general public a mutation almost inevitably denotes a change that is at best disadvantageous and i...

Consanguineous marriages have a high prevalence among Muslim-majority countries, and the ratio is increasing in Saudi population [1]. Nowadays, more than half of all the marriages in Saudi Arabia are marriages between cousins [2]. Different types of consanguineous marriages exist, such as marriage between first cousins, which is the most common one, marriage between second cousins, and marriage...

Marriage between biological relatives is widely popular in many parts of the world, with over 1000 million people living in countries where 20-50+% of unions are contracted between couples related as second cousins or closer. Consanguinity is, however, a controversial topic, in part due to public misunderstanding, complicated by often exaggerated past estimates of the adverse health outcomes. W...

Consanguineous marriages have a high prevalence among Muslim-majority countries, and the ratio is increasing in Saudi population [1]. Nowadays, more than half of all the marriages in Saudi Arabia are marriages between cousins [2]. Different types of consanguineous marriages exist, such as marriage between first cousins, which is the most common one, marriage between second cousins, and marriage...

Anthropologists have long been interested in the survival of Indian cultural traits in the New World. In this article, we present results of an ongoing project with a Costa Rican community that descends from East Indian indentured servants. We focus on the group’s marriage patterns and how these patterns might have helped keep the community as a cohesive ethnic group. We investigate the group’s...