Mummies Reveal Heart Disease Plagued Ancient Egyptians

An examination of mummified bodies has revealed that ancient Egyptians suffered from hardening of the arteries in surprising frequency, suggesting that blame for heart disease extends beyond the modern culprits of smoking, fast food and the remote control.

It turns out that of the 16 mummies (dating from 4000 to 7500 BD – Before Doritos) with hearts and arteries preserved well enough to study, 9 had atherosclerosis – hardening of the arteries.

On a CT scan, the buildup of fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances inside artery walls looks as distinct for the dead as the living.

Which just goes to show – no matter how many good excuses you give your doctor for putting off that annual checkup, all they need to do to get in that last ‘I told you so’ is dig you up and run a quick scan.

“We would have thought this was a disease of modern man,” said Samuel Wann of the Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Wauwatosa and a study team member. The results, he said, are bound to stoke an ongoing controversy among cardiologists. “We have a debate among our colleagues whether atherosclerosis is inevitable if you live long enough,” he said.

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