The American Heart Assoc. Scientific Sessions 2009 met last week and heard some interesting information. Modern CT scans were performed on 22 mummies with the oldest being 3500 years old. Results revealed that a significant number of these mummies had evidence of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) when they died. It has long been felt that this was a modern disease process resulting from  diets consisting of fast food, smoking, and lack of exercise. The only thought as to why this may have occurred is that because these mummies were of a higher class of citizens they would have been meat eaters which had to be heavily salted for preservation purposes. This salt could have led to hypertension (high blood pressure). If nothing else these findings show that modern medicine may need to further study the causes of this deadly disease process beyond those we usually blame. Who knows…I may smoke a cigarette with my next quarter  pounder with cheese! bjmdjd

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American Heart Association · atherosclerosis · causes of atherosclerosis · mummies