Heart disease plagued human society long before fry-ups and cigarettes came along, researchers say. The upper classes of ancient Egypt were riddled with cardiovascular disease that dramatically raised their risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Doctors made the discovery after taking hospital X-ray scans of 20 Egyptian mummies that date back more than 3,500 years.
The scans revealed signs of atherosclerosis, a life-threatening condition where fat and calcium build up in the arteries, clogging them and stiffening their walls.
On a visit to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, one of the researchers had been intrigued by a nameplate on the remains of Pharaoh Merenptah, who died in 1,203BC. The plate said the pharaoh died at the age of 60 and suffered diseased arteries, arthritis and tooth decay.
The US and Egyptian experts got permission to examine the mummified pharaoh and others that were on display or stored in the museum's basement.
Despite their extraordinary age, 16 mummies had identifiable hearts and arteries. Of these, nine showed evidence of atherosclerosis. Hard calcified deposits were seen either in the walls of arteries or along the path an artery would have taken. In some individuals, up to six different arteries were affected.
The most ancient mummy afflicted with heart disease was the maid of Queen Ahmose Nefertiti, Lady Rai, who lived around 200 years before the time of King Tutenkhamun. She is thought to have been between 30 and 40 years old when she died in 1,530BC.
Gregory Thomas at the University of California at Irvine said: "Atherosclerosis is ubiquitous among modern day humans and, despite differences in ancient and modern lifestyles, we found that it was rather common in ancient Egyptians of high socioeconomic status living as much as three millennia ago.
"The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease."
The team analysed bones in the mummies to work out how old they were when they died. Seven out of eight who survived beyond the age of 45 had hardened arteries.
It was impossible to determine what kind of diet the dead Egyptians had, but it is known that beef, duck and goose were often on the menu at this time.
"While we do not know whether atherosclerosis caused the demise of any of the mummies in the study, we can confirm that the disease was present in many," said Thomas.
The findings were announced at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando and are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
