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Clogged arteries found in mummy

Clogged arteries have been discovered in the body of a mummy who was an Egyptian princess.They were discovered under a study presented at a major cardiology conference.It is known by researchers that the eygptians suffered from plaque build up in the arteries that supply the heart.The latest findings suggest that the syndrome may be more prevalent and mysterious than what they had thought before. 'Commonly, we think of coronary artery or heart disease as a consequence of modern lifestyles, mainly because it has increased in developing countries as they become more westernised,' said Gregory Thomas of the University of California, Irvine. 'These data point to a missing link in our understanding of heart disease, and we may not be so different from our ancestors,' he said. Researc hers carried out computerised tomography scans on 52 Egyptian mummies to determine if they had suffered atherosclerosis.Out of the 44 that had detectable arteries or hearts it was proven that 45% of them had a build up of calcium in their vessel walls.The Egyptiam princess was the oldest out of them all who is estimated to have lived betwenn 1580 and 1550 BC and died in around her eary 40’s. Even though ancient Egyptians ate a leaner diet, including less meat, and did not smoke cigarettes, they ended up with the same disease as modern humans. But that does not mean people should disregard modern research, said co-author of the study Adel Allam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo. 'Recent studies have shown that by not smoking, having a lower blood pressure and a lower cholesterol level, calcification of our arteries is delayed,' said Mr Allam. 'On the other hand, from what we can tell from this study, humans are predisposed to atherosclerosis, so it behooves us to take the proper measures necessary to delay it as long as we can.'

sources:

https://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/clogged-arteries-found-in-mummy/

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0404/mummies.html