Surprise: Ancient Inuit Mummy Scans Reveal Possible Heart Disease

[Judi Lynn]

Trio of 500-year-old mummies may have had atherosclerosis despite fishy diet.
Dead Things
By Gemma Tarlach
December 27, 2019 10:00 AM

A trio of mummies may unravel the decades-old adage that an active lifestyle and a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids — such as those found in salmon, herring and other fatty fish — protect your heart.

Researchers used CT imaging to examine mummies of five Inuit adults who lived in Greenland about 500 years ago. The remains, naturally preserved in the environment's extreme cold, had been found by archaeologists in the 1920s and moved to a museum in Massachusetts.

The mummies included an infant and four young adults: two males, ages estimated at 18 to 22 and 25 to 30, and two females, 16 to 18 and 25 to 30 years old. The cause of death could not be determined for any of the individuals.

For the four adults, significant soft tissue remained, including arteries and other elements of the cardiovascular system, allowing researchers a good look via imaging inside the mummies — and that's where they found a big surprise.

Three of the four adult mummies had arterial calcifications — essentially, gunk that had built up in their arteries. These plaques are signs of atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart attack and stroke.

More:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/surprise-ancient-inuit-mummy-scans-reveal-possible-heart-disease?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+discovermagazine%2FVitalSigns+%28Vital+Signs%29

[JDC]

1. Perhaps poor gum and oral hygiene in general

Played a role in said heart disease, rather than omega 3 fatty acid not being beneficial. I'd lean towards periodontitis rather than diet, but that's my guess.

[wnylib]

2. Sounds like a reasonable guess to me. Also,

if this was only 500 years ago, they might already have been influenced by mainland diets and lifestyles as European explorers spread out to other places.