This undated photo provided by Dr Michael I. Miyamoto shows the mummified remains of Djeher, who lived in the Ptolemaic Era （304-30 BCE）, entering a CT scanner tube set up outside of the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo.[Agencies]

    ORLANDO, Fla. – You can't blame this one on McDonald's: Researchers have found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies.

    "We think of it as being caused by modern risk factors," such as fast food, smoking and a lack of exercise, but the findings show that these aren't the only reasons arteries clog, said Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.

    He and several other researchers used CT scans, a type of X-ray, on 22 mummies kept in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. The subjects were from 1981 B.C. to 334 A.D. Half were thought to be over 45 when they died, and average lifespan was under 50 back then.

    Sixteen mummies had heart and blood vessel tissue to analyze. Definite or probable hardening of the arteries was seen in nine.

    "We were struck by the similar appearance of vascular calcification in the mummies and our present-day patients," said another researcher, Dr. Michael Miyamoto of the University of California at San Diego. "Perhaps the development of atherosclerosis is a part of being human."

    One mummy had evidence of a possible heart attack but scientists don't know if it was fatal. Nor can they tell how much these people weighed - mummification dehydrates the body.

    Of those whose identities could be determined, all were of high social status, and many served in the court of the Pharaoh or as priests or priestesses.

    "Rich people ate meat, and they did salt meat, so maybe they had hypertension （high blood pressure）, but that's speculation," Thompson said.

    With modern diets, "we all sort of live in the Pharaoh's court," said another of the researchers, Dr. Samuel Wann of the Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Milwaukee.

    The oldest mummy with heart disease signs was Lady Rai, a nursemaid to Queen Ahmose Nefertari who died around 1530 B.C. - 200 years before King Tutankhamun.

    German imaging company Siemens AG, the National Bank of Egypt and the Mid-America Heart Institute paid for the work. Results are in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association and were reported Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference.

    不要責怪快餐：木乃伊有心臟病

    你不能責怪麥當勞：科學家發現在3500歲的木乃伊之中有心臟病的跡象。

    "我們認為心臟病是由于現代風險因素而引起的",如快餐，吸煙和缺乏運動，但調查結果顯示，這些不是動脈阻塞的唯一原因，美國中部堪薩斯城心臟病學會心臟病專家蘭德爾·湯普森博士說。

    他和一些研究人員利用一種X光射線CT掃描在開羅埃及國家文物館保存的22具木乃伊。這些研究對象從公元前1981年至公元334,半數人被認死亡于45以上，平均壽命為50歲以下。

    在對16個木乃伊的心臟和血管組織進行分析中，發現9個有明確的或很可能血管硬化。

    "我們感到震驚的是木乃伊的血管鈣化和我們今天的患者出現相似，"圣地亞哥的加州大學另一位研究者邁克爾·宮本博士說， "也許動脈硬化的發展是人類的一部分。"

    有一具木乃伊很可能是心臟病患者，但科學家不知道它是否是致命的。他們也不能斷定這些人有多少重量-木乃伊身體脫水。

    那些身份可確定的，都是有很的高社會地位，許多是在法老宮廷擔任神父或祭司。

    "富人吃肉，他們也吃咸肉，因此他們可能患有高血壓（高血壓）,但這是猜測，"湯普森說。

    憑借現代化的飲食，"我們都生活在各種法老宮廷生活方式中，"威斯康星州的密爾沃基心臟病醫院另一名研究人員塞繆爾文恩博士說。

    患有心臟病的跡象，最古老的木乃伊是女王赫摩斯納菲爾塔莉保姆萊女士，死于公元前1530年左右--圖坦哈曼國王之前200年。

    德國西門子影像公司，埃及國家銀行和美國中心臟學會贊助本研究工作。其結果在本周《美國醫學協會學報》雜志出版，并于周二的美國心臟協會會議作報告。