This is based on an LA Times article here
What strikes me most is how athlerosclerotic the science itself is. Or perhaps it’s just the reportage?
The opening line of the article is “CT scans of Egyptian mummies… show evidence of… hardening of the arteries, which is normally thought of as a disease caused by modern lifestyles….” One of the researching cardiologist draws this conclusion: “Perhaps atherosclerosis is part of being human.”
The LA Times reporter covering the story (Thomas Maugh) rightly points out at the end, “The high-status Egyptians ate a diet high in meat from cattle, ducks and geese, all fatty.” Which of course entirely negates the hypothesis of heart disease being part of the natural human condition.
It’s clear why the researchers — both cardiologists — would want ancient evidence to support the notion that heart disease is normal. But the fact is that the preponderance of evidence around the world in epidemiology as well as cardiology indicates that diet and lifestyle are largely responsible. Don’t trust me, just start digging around for yourself, it’s not hard to find the data.
Okay, so researchers are trying to get their work into the mainstream, what’s new? Any thinking person can see through their faulty logic, right? Not according to all the research on behavioral psychology. That’s why I’m mostly disappointed in the reporting as opposed to the research.
Maugh and the LA Times bit so hard on this succulent morsel of pseudo-science that the net result is false information which is damaging to public health. Had Maugh flipped his article upside down and lead with his commentary at the bottom, he would have come much closer to serving the public good with the dark leafy vegetables of truth.
hat tip: @DannyHorowitz
