New studies on mummies have shown which diseases of the cardiovascular system affected ancient people, reports the European Heart Journal on May 30.
In the modern world, heart and vascular diseases come first. But people often think that heart disease is a byproduct of the modern fast food lifestyle, but new research shows that the disease has plagued humanity for centuries.
A team of scientists used computed tomography to study adult mummies from seven different cultures, dating back more than 4,000 years. It turned out that more than a third (37%) of the 237 “patients” had signs of arterial blockage.
Experts have concluded that people are at inherent risk of developing atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the arteries that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Scientists have found atherosclerosis in every period since 2500 BC. C., both in men and women, in the seven cultures studied, both in rich “patients” and in common burials. “This supports the observation that this is not simply a modern condition caused by modern lifestyles.”
The study involved mummies from around the world, including ancient Egypt, Peru, lowland mummies, ancient Andean highland Bolivians, 19th-century Aleutian hunter-gatherers, 16th-century Greenlandic Inuit, ancestral peoples, and pastoralists. medieval Gobi desert.
The scientists stressed that most cases of pathology corresponded to early heart diseases, which are often detected on CT scans of modern patients.
The study shows that modern risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, in addition to the main risks inherent to the human aging process, can increase the extent and impact of atherosclerosis.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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