Heart Disease Nothing New, Ancient Mummies Reveal Signs of the Disease

Mummies from thousands of years ago and around the world show evidence of clogged arteries, new research finds, ending the notion that heart disease is a modern condition brought on by today's unhealthy diets and smoking.

A study published on Sunday in The Lancet of 137 mummies from 4,000 years ago revealed that a  third had signs of atherosclerosis.  The findings suggest that humans may have a basic predisposition to developing cardiovascular disease as they age, said Dr. Gregory Thomas, medical director of the MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and senior author of the study.

"We want to believe that we can prevent heart disease, that we don't have to get it if we do the right things and go back to nature," said Thomas, who is also a clinical professor of cardiology at UC Irvine. "I believed it too, until we scanned these people."

Researchers said that while much of heart disease can be explained by traditional risk factors such as diet, smoking, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, much of it also is due to other factors such as aging, genetics, stress and inflammation.

Earlier research by the group involved only mummies from Egypt. The new findings involve Egyptian mummies as well as corn and potato farmers who lived in Peru between 600 B.C. and 1500 A.D., Puebloans from the southwest U.S. who lived as far back as 1500 B.C., and Aleutian Island mummies from the 19th century.

Most of the mummies were younger than about 60 years old. Although most of the mummies came from societies with a grain-based diet and others likely consuming mainly meat and fish, all of the mummies showed atherosclerosis, or calcium deposits in their arteries. That can narrow the arteries and reduce blood flow, and if the calcium deposits rupture, it can cause heart attacks.