Diet and physical education will not save you from atherosclerosis
Fatty foods and a sedentary lifestyle are not the main risk factors for atherosclerosis
However, a recent study of ancient mummies revealed that they also have signs of atherosclerosis of the arteries, although they led an active lifestyle and did not eat unhealthy food. The results of this study are published in the journal The Lancet (Atherosclerosis across 4000 years of human history: the Horus study of four ancient populations).
With atherosclerosis, the inner walls of the vessels are covered with plaques of cholesterol and immune cells-macrophages, which narrows the lumen of the vessel and worsens the blood flow through it. As a result, the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases increases. Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of death in developed countries. For years, it was believed that the main culprits of atherosclerosis are a lack of physical activity and a diet rich in saturated fats. All prevention of atherosclerosis was based on this, according to which it is necessary to move more and eat right, and then the risk of the disease will be minimized.
Cardiologist from the University of California (University of California) Greg Thomas and his colleagues suggested that the ancient inhabitants engaged in hunting and gathering did not have these two risk factors for atherosclerosis — they moved a lot and did not consume saturated fats. Therefore, they should not have signs of atherosclerosis of the arteries. To test this hypothesis, Thomas and his colleagues performed computed tomography of 137 mummies representing each of 4 ancient peoples — Egyptians, Peruvians, Pueblo Indians from the southwest of America and Unangans from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Using CT scans, the researchers looked for calcified plaques on the walls of large arteries or in the course of non-preserved smaller vessels in mummies. As a result, they "diagnosed" atherosclerosis in 47 mummies (34 percent), among which representatives of all 4 peoples were present to varying degrees. Thus, plaques in the arteries were found in 25 percent of 51 Peruvians and in 60 percent of 5 Unangans. In general, scientists believe that the prevalence of this disease among ancient peoples is approximately equal to the modern one.
Mr. Thomas had already conducted a similar study in 2009, and then he and his colleagues found signs of atherosclerosis in 22 mummies exhibited at the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. However, experts then suggested that these mummies belonged to people from the elite stratum, who ate more exquisitely and were not physically active. Now scientists have examined mummies belonging to ordinary men and women, and found the same symptoms in them. Researchers believe that the main factor in the development of atherosclerosis in ancient people could be chronic inflammation caused by smoke inhalation or chronic infections. These data change our understanding of atherosclerosis. They prove that a fatty diet and a sedentary lifestyle are not the main factors in the development of this disease.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru15.03.2013