Modern lifestyles are often blamed for causing blocked arteries but our long-dead ancestors suffered from the same unhealthy symptoms, claim scientists.
The remarkably preserved mummies from five ancient cultures – including Egyptians living 3,000 years ago – bear the unmistakeable hallmarks of heart disease.
CT scans of hundreds of bodies found atherosclerosis, the narrowing of the arteries due to build-up of fatty deposits, which is the underlying disease process that causes heart attack and strokes.
Modern lifestyles are often blamed for causing blocked arteries but our long-dead ancestors suffered from the same unhealthy symptoms, claim scientists. The remarkably preserved mummies from five ancient cultures - including Egyptians living 3,000 years ago - bear the unmistakeable hallmarks of heart disease (illustrated)
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Modern lifestyles are often blamed for causing blocked arteries but our long-dead ancestors suffered from the same unhealthy symptoms, claim scientists. The remarkably preserved mummies from five ancient cultures - including Egyptians living 3,000 years ago - bear the unmistakeable hallmarks of heart disease (illustrated)
HOW HARDENED ARTERIES KILL
Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of heart attacks and strokes caused by lack of blood to the brain.
Until now it had been widely assumed that today's high rates of heart and artery disease were chiefly the result of unhealthy modern lifestyles.
It is though that diets rich in saturated fat encourage the deposit of fatty layers on artery walls which harden over time.
As a result blood vessels become narrower and the flow of blood is impeded. When insufficient blood reaches the heart muscle or brain it can trigger a heart attack or stroke.
But the triggers must have been very different from those afflicting us in modern times, it is claimed.
Instead of a high fat diet, cigarette smoking and obesity being to blame, it is more likely our forebears suffered repeated infections, parasites and the ill-effects of breathing in smoke from cooking fires.
The researchers examined 76 Egyptians from 3,000 years ago, 51 Peruvians from 600 to 2,000 years ago, five Native Americans from 1,600 years ago, a small group of 500 year old Mongolians and five Aleutian Islanders from 150 years ago.
Only the ancient Egyptians wealthy enough to undergo the 70-day mummification process might have enjoyed the fat-laden diet and sedentary lifestyle commonly associated with the disease.
Yet atherosclerosis was discovered in common people from the other four cultures, whose bodies were left to dry out in extremely hot or fiercely cold climates after short, brutish lives as hunter gatherers or nomads.
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The findings suggest that genetically humans may be inherently susceptible to atherosclerosis.
Dr Gregory Thomas, medical director at Long Beach Memorial in California, said its discovery among many ancient cultures means obesity, diet and smoking are not the only culprits.
CT scans like the one pictured of hundreds of bodies found artherosclerosis, the narrowing of the arteries due to build-up of fatty deposits, which is the underlying disease process that causes heart attack and strokes
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CT scans like the one pictured of hundreds of bodies found artherosclerosis, the narrowing of the arteries due to build-up of fatty deposits, which is the underlying disease process that causes heart attack and strokes
CT SCANS REVEAL CLOGGED ARTERIES WERE A COMMON PROBLEM IN ANCIENT EGYPT
This is not the first time that scans of Ancient Egyptian mummies have revealed heart disease.
It was revealed in April that scans of 4,000-year-old mummies showed evidence of hardening of the arteries.
Earlier studied have revealed fatty arteries in a large number of Egyptian mummies, which experts put down to their luxurious, fatty diets.
Atherosclerosis is supposed to be a disease of modern civilisation,’ Dr Adel Allam, a nuclear cardiologist at Cairo’s Al Azhar University told Alan Mozes of Health Day.
He believes that heart disease risk is not just about poor diet and obesity, but that genetics may also come into play.
Last year, CT scans of 137 mummies showed evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardened arteries, in one third of those examined - including those from ancient people believed to have healthy lifestyles.
'Heart disease has been stalking mankind for over 4,000 years all over the globe,' said Dr Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.
'I think it's fair to say people should feel less guilty about getting heart disease in modern times. We may have oversold the idea that a healthy lifestyle can completely eliminate your risk.
Dr Thomas said ‘There is a surprising similarity in the amount and distribution of atherosclerotic calcifications, fatty deposits, between ancient Egyptians and current Americans of a similar age.
‘This is observed, even though many of what we believe to be major risk factors must be different between the two populations.
‘There was no tobacco in ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians must have been more active than current Americans, and some of the dietary issues that exist in the USA today did not exist in ancient Egypt.’
Instead researchers believe the disease could have been caused by chronic inflammation triggered by repeated infections due to poor hygiene, lack of sanitation and living in close proximity to animals.
For example, the mummy ‘Nakht,’ a teenage boy who worked as a weaver circa 1,200 BC in Thebes was infected with four parasites including tapeworm and malaria, while others had TB.
Dr Thomas said ‘These ancient people were unaware of the germs lurking in the unhygienic environments in which they lived, animals and people living side by side, inadequate sewage, contaminated water.
‘They did not know that the germs amongst which they lived caused infection after infection.
‘In addition to frequent bacterial and viral infections, the ancients likely suffered from lifelong parasitic infestations. Modern medicine, knowledge and antibiotics had not yet arrived.’
The inflammatory process, which cells use to fight infection, has been proven to speed up the inflammation that happens when cholesterol gets into the wall of the artery, which leads to further build-up of fatty deposits.
The disease was also more common in women, who would have been repeatedly exposed to the smoke from cooking fires, which the scientists believe had the same effect on the arteries as smoke from cigarettes.
Only the ancient Egyptians were wealthy enough to have enjoyed the fat-laden diet and sedentary lifestyle commonly associated with the disease. Yet atherosclerosis was discovered in common people from the other four cultures. A previous study shows a mummy from 200-900 AD of a Peruvian woman in her 40s, excavated from Lima, with calcifications in the arteries
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Only the ancient Egyptians were wealthy enough to have enjoyed the fat-laden diet and sedentary lifestyle commonly associated with the disease. Yet atherosclerosis was discovered in common people from the other four cultures. A previous study shows a mummy from 200-900 AD of a Peruvian woman in her 40s, excavated from Lima, with calcifications in the arteries
Researchers behind a series of studies published in Global Heart, the journal of the World Heart Federation, call for a fresh look at risk factors not associated with rich living.
Dr Thomas said ‘Each year we learn more and more about the impact of the human genome and molecules in our blood, and so to believe we have already uncovered all the causes, or risk factors, of atherosclerosis may be wishful thinking.
‘Using the past to predict the future, as these ancient people unexpectedly had atherosclerosis, we need to continue to search for other potential fundamental causes of atherosclerosis.
‘The discovery of new causes could dramatically reshape the frequency and impact of atherosclerosis today.
‘This should lead to re-evaluation of the root causes of atherosclerosis, and may lead to entirely new avenues of prevention and early treatment.’
