The wrong way of life of a modern person is often blamed for the development of various diseases, but, as the study showed, people who lived more than 3000 years ago suffered from the same ailments.
According to the Daily Mail, researchers examined the remains of 76 Egyptians who lived more than 3,000 years ago, 51 Peruvians who lived from 600 to 2,000 years ago, 5 Native Americans who lived 1,600 years ago, a small group of 500-year-old Mongols and five Aleutian residents, age which was 150 years old.
Computed tomography of the bodies showed that they all suffered from heart disease. So, scientists have discovered signs of atherosclerosis - narrowing of the arteries due to the build-up of cholesterol, which is one of the main causes of heart attacks and strokes.
According to the director of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Dr. Gregory Thomas, who led the study, only the ancient Egyptians were rich enough to eat fatty foods, but atherosclerosis was found in the simple members of the other four cultures, whose bodies simply dried up. in very hot or cold climates.
However, the causes of atherosclerosis in representatives of these peoples differ significantly from modern ones, scientists noted. This pathology was not "to blame" for foods high in fat, smoking or obesity, but repeated infections, parasites and the effects of inhalation of smoke rising from the fires.
The findings suggest that people are genetically susceptible to atherosclerosis, the researchers said.
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“This discovery means that obesity, unhealthy diet and smoking are not the main causes of the development of this pathology,” says Gregory Thomas. - There is a surprising similarity in the number and distribution of atherosclerotic calcifications and body fat between the ancient Egyptians and modern Americans of about the same age. Although there was no tobacco in ancient Egypt, the Egyptians were more active than today's Americans and did not have the foods that are now consumed in the United States in their diets.
Scientists believe that the research data, published in the journal "Global Heart", will help to find out the unknown causes of atherosclerosis and lead to the development of completely new methods of treatment and prevention.