An international team of scientists conducted a computer scan of the 16th century Greenland mummies, which showed that these people suffered from clogged arteries during their lifetime.
About opening informs International Business Times. The HORUS research team studied the well-preserved mummies of four adult Inuit and one infant living in Greenland about 500 years ago. Analysis of the skeleton and teeth showed that two adults were men. Two mummies belong to women who died aged 18 to 30 years.
Computed tomography revealed a “calcified atheroma” in three mummies – an accumulation of plaque of fatty material in arteries. In the pictures, these plaques look like more dense patches of tissue. At the same time, scientists do not reliably know whether it was this disease that caused the Inuit death.
In his research, published on the American Medical Association’s open JAMA Network digital platform, the authors write: “Atherosclerosis is believed to be a modern disease, but its presence in ancient people increases the likelihood of a more fundamental predisposition to this disease.”
Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaques accumulate inside the arteries. In the modern world in developed countries, this disease is one of the leading causes of death.
The presence of plaques in the arteries of Inuit, who died 500 years ago, surprised researchers. Scanning revealed that these people were on a specific diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids. They ate fish, poultry and marine mammals.
Researchers note that they do not understand the factors that caused atherosclerosis in these ancient people.
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