Findings From Mumi, Heart Disease Has Been Existing Since 4,000 Years Ago

Illustration of the findings of a mummy prove heart disease has existed since 4,000 years ago (Live Science)

JAKARTA - A more than 4,000-year-old mummy was found to have a buildup of cholesterol in their arteries.

The findings of a recent study suggest heart disease may have been more common in ancient times than previously thought.

Previous research has examined the accumulation of calcium in arteries and heart that has cooled in the mummy's body using surgery methods and CT (computed tomography) scanning.

However, these studies only show damage that occurs in the final stages of heart disease, so it does not provide a comprehensive picture of how common the risk of heart disease was in the past.

Now, researchers analyze the arteries of five ancient mummies from ancient South America and Egypt, and find an early stage of atherosclerosis, a condition in which plaques began to accumulate on arterial walls and inhibit blood flow.

"I have studied heart disease patterns in various populations for more than 20 years," said Dr. Mohammad Madjid, lead author of the study who works as assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at McGovern Medical School, part of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, quoted from the Live Science page.

"The question that always arises in my mind is whether this is a modern disease, or a process that is inherent in humans, regardless of modern life?" he added.

To answer this question, Madjid and his team collected arterial samples from five mummies estimated to date from 2000 BC to 1000 AD. The five mummies consisted of three men and two women aged between 18 and 60 years.

They analyzed a small piece of arterial which was only a few centimeters long. The results show lesions due to cholesterol buildup, a predecessor of plaque formation that could clog arteries and cause heart attacks. According to the study's authors, this is the first evidence of early stage lesions from mummies originating from various parts of the world.

Previous research has found advanced arterial plaques in a 500-year-old Greenland mummy and an Egyptian mummy that is more than 3,000 years old. In addition, CT's results scan on an ice age hunter mummy named trustzi in 2018 also suggest that he may be at risk of a heart attack, with three pieces of plaque hardening near his heart, Live Science has reported.

"The accumulation of cholesterol on arterial walls is basically a mechanism for healing body wounds that are not going well," explained Madjid.

"It is a response to various traumas such as infection, high cholesterol, exposure to smoke, and other factors that can damage the inner layer of the arteries, called endotelium," he continued.

The body's inflammatory response is a normal part of the wound healing process. However, damaged arterial walls become susceptible to the buildup of white blood cells, which ultimately lead to cholesterol accumulation.

Madjid revealed that this buildup first emerged as lines and lesions. Later, over time it can thicken to sufficient to inhibit blood flow.

"This process is very well known in modern medicine and now we have found similar patterns in our ancestors," he said.

This shows that this process of inflammatory and body response is a natural part of human life." he added.

The results of this study have been published online in the October 2019 edition of the journal American Heart Journal.