Featured Title:
Bending the Boyne: a Novel of Ancient Ireland |
 |
| Singing Up the Country: The Songlines of Avebury and Beyond |
 |
| Login |
|
Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like your own home page, fewer ads, and your contributions link to your page. |
| Who's Online |
There are currently, 116 guests and 4 members online.
You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here |
| |
Moderated by : Andy B , TimPrevett , Klingon , sem , MickM , TheCaptain , bat400 , coldrum , davidmorgan , Runemage , SolarMegalith
The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map : Index >>
General Forum >> Mummies reveal that clogged arteries plagued the ancient world
|
 |
| Author |
Mummies reveal that clogged arteries plagued the ancient world |
jackdaw1
Joined:
03-06-2006
Messages: 98
from Here and now.
 OFF-Line
|  Posted 12-03-2013 at 13:38
Nature
Mummies reveal that clogged arteries plagued the ancient world
Clogged arteries are seen as the quintessential symptom of an unhealthy modern lifestyle. But the condition was common across the ancient world, even among active hunter–gatherers with no access to junk food, a study of mummies has found.
“There’s a belief that if we go back in time, everything’s going to be OK,” says cardiologist Greg Thomas of the University of California, Irvine, a senior member of the study team. “But these mummies still have coronary artery disease.” The paper is published in the current issue of The Lancet1.
Blocked arteries
In atherosclerosis, arteries become narrowed and hardened by plaques — made up of cholesterol and immune cells called macrophages — that build up in their walls. The condition can lead to heart attacks, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases and is the leading cause of death in the developed world.
A lack of exercise and a diet high in saturated fat — both of which increase levels of 'bad' cholesterol in the blood — are thought to increase the risk of plaques building up. This has led to the suggestion that to avoid heart disease we should try to live more like our hunter–gatherer ancestors, on a diet of unprocessed foods high in protein and unsaturated fats2.
To find out if that’s really true, Thomas and his colleagues performed CT scans on 137 mummies from four very different ancient populations: Egyptian, Peruvian, the Ancestral Puebloans of southwest America and the Unangans of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The Egyptians were artificially embalmed, whereas the other bodies were preserved naturally by very dry or very cold conditions.
More on link.
 Profile
 Reply
|
Andy B
Joined:
13-02-2001
Messages: 6992
from Surrey, UK
OFF-Line
| Posted 13-03-2013 at 10:39
Bump for newsletter - thanks for these Jackdaw
Profile
 Email
Reply
| |
|
|
|
|
|
IMPORTANT NOTES: This site uses COOKIES. Please do not use this web site if you do not agree to our Terms and Conditions of use.
If you plan to visit ancient sites in person, please make sure you follow our Charter.
Articles, photographs and comments are the property of their respective authors or contributors, please contact them for permission to reproduce. Site design ©1997-2012 Andy Burnham.
|
Main News