Heart Disease Risk Is Independent Of Diet: Heart Disease Existed Thousands Of Years Ago In Many Cultures

Posted by Milton Recht:

From The Wall Street Journal, "Telltale Finding on Heart Disease" by Ron Winslow:

Researchers who examined 137 mummies from four cultures spanning 4,000 years said Sunday they found robust evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, challenging widely held assumptions that cardiovascular disease is largely a malady of current times.***The same researchers reported similar findings in 2009 from Egyptian mummies. Because those specimens were believed to have been from the upper echelons of society, the researchers surmised their calcified arteries could have developed from high-fat diets. But by expanding the research to other cultures, including Puebloans of what is now the U.S. Southwest, the researchers believe all levels of society were at risk, regardless of diet.***Gregory Thomas, medical director at MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute, Long Beach, Calif., and another researcher on the effort, said the findings don't challenge the need for a healthy diet. But they do suggest that "regardless of diet and culture, we're all at risk for atherosclerosis."