An ancient Egyptian princess would have needed bypass surgery if she'd lived today, according to researchers who examined the mummy and found blocked arteries in her heart in what's now the oldest case of human heart disease.
And she wasn't the only one: An investigation of 44 mummies revealed that nearly half had evidence of calcification in their arteries, or atherosclerosis. This calcification happens when fatty material accumulates inside arteries, eventually hardening into plaques. If the plaques block the arteries, they can cause heart attacks. If they break off and lodge in smaller blood vessels, the result can be a heart attack, stroke or pulmonary embolism (a blockage of arteries in the lungs).
"Overall, it was striking how much atherosclerosis we found," study researcher Gregory Thomas of the University of California, Irvine, said in a statement. "We think of atherosclerosis as a disease of modern lifestyle, but it's clear that it also existed 3,500 years ago. Our findings certainly call into question the perception of atherosclerosis as a modern disease."
I love the dismay of those who still hold to the notion that grains should by a staple in a healthy diet. How could these Egyptians have arterial blockage this bad if they are eating a diet Doctors are recommending to reduce Heart Disease?
The Egyptians ate a lot of breads and cereals and very little beef.
Agriculture existed from an early date in Egypt. For the common people of Egypt, cereal foods formed the main backbone of their diet from the predynastic period onward Even for the rich, this staple mean generally consisted of a variety of different breads, often with other ingredients mixed in
Fact: we know Egyptians of all status eat breads and cereals.
Fact: they did not use sea salt and only used salt from the Siwa Oasis which is very remote and only recently has it become accessible.
Fact: only the rich ate beef on a regular basis along with some fish and fowl.
Fact: the common beverage was beer made from wheat; wine was more costly and consumed less frequently by the average Egyptian.
Fact: There is little text to support daily consumption of butter, cheese and other dairy products. Scenes portrayed in Theban Tombs depict a woman pulling what is believed to be cheese from a container. With oils readily available it is unlikely that butter was a staple in the making of the bread.
Draw your own conclusions, but it seems pretty obvious what the Egyptians and Americans had in common; Breads, Cereals and Heart Disease.
Dr. David Marcon
Work Smarter Not Harder!
Cincinnati Ohio
www.drdavidmarcon.com
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