Ancient people also had clogged arteries - From: AAP - March 11,
2013 SCANS of mummies from as long ago as 2,000 BC have revealed
that ancient people also had clogged arteries, a condition
blamed on modern vices like smoking, overeating and inactivity.
The finding, published in the Lancet medical journal on Monday,
casts doubt on our understanding of the condition known as
atherosclerosis that causes heart attacks and strokes. "The
presence of atherosclerosis in premodern human beings suggests
that the disease is an inherent component of human ageing and
not associated with any specific diet or lifestyle," says the
study. "A common assumption is that the rise in levels of
atherosclerosis is predominantly lifestyle-related, and that if
modern humans could emulate pre-industrial or even pre-
agricultural lifestyles, that atherosclerosis ... would be
avoided," cardiologist Randall Thompson, one of the authors of
the international study, said in a statement issued by Lancet.
"Our findings seem to cast doubt on tha