A new study recently published in The Lancet reveals that atherosclerosis – hardening of the arteries – was a lot more common among mummies and ancient peoples than previously thought.
atherosclerosisobesity
CT scans
Cardiovascular disease may have been much more common in ancient times
Just over a third of the mummies (34%) showed signs of probable or definite atherosclerosis. The disease was more prevalent among older people – they were able to calculate the age of death by examining their bone structure.
atherosclerosisobesity
CT scans
Cardiovascular disease may have been much more common in ancient times
Just over a third of the mummies (34%) showed signs of probable or definite atherosclerosis. The disease was more prevalent among older people – they were able to calculate the age of death by examining their bone structure.
diets high in saturated fats can increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis.
“The fact that we found similar levels of atherosclerosis in all of the different cultures we studied, all of whom had very different lifestyles and diets, suggests that atherosclerosis may have been far more common in the ancient world than previously thought.
Furthermore, the mummies we studied from outside Egypt were produced naturally as a result of local climate conditions, meaning that it’s reasonable to assume that these mummies represent a reasonable cross-section of the population, rather than the specially selected elite group of people who were selected for mummification in ancient Egypt.”
“A common assumption is that the rise in levels of atherosclerosis is predominantly lifestyle-related, and that if modern humans could emulate pre-industrial or even pre-agricultural lifestyles, that atherosclerosis, or at least its clinical manifestations, would be avoided.
Our findings seem to cast doubt on that assumption, and at the very least, we think they suggest that our understanding of the causes of atherosclerosis is incomplete, and that it might be somehow inherent to the process of human aging.”