How did ancient Egyptians end up with an affluent ‘modern’ disease?

[Northerner]

For years, researchers assumed that atherosclerosis – a hardening of the arteries that leads to heart attack and stroke – was a modern affliction caused by high-fat diets and a lack of exercise. But according to a new study, the disease can be traced back to ancient Egyptians – and working class ones at that.

Michaela Binder, a bioarchaeology PhD student, and Charlotte Roberts, an archaeology professor, both of Durham University in the United Kingdom, published their findings in the March issue of the International Journal of Paleopathology.

Atherosclerosis occurs when lipids and fats stick to the inner walls of an artery. Immune cells try to dislodge them, but instead add to the pile-up, forming plaques. The cells ooze calcium, and over time the calcium grows like stalactites in a cave, eventually forming a lattice. When a person dies, the cells, lipids and fats waste away, but the calcium latticework survives and maintains the shape of the plaque. These petrified plaques are so hard that they survive as strangely curved little bony chunks in skeletons and can provide evidence of ancient atherosclerosis.

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/ancient-egyptians-end-affluent-modern-disease/

 

[trophywench]

I think people just died of all sorts of things they didn't have a clue about at the time; in any case life expectancy was pretty low and it was rare to make old bones, which is why old people were venerated isn't it?