An Egyptian mummy. Heart problems and atherosclerosis were frequent among the Egyptians
The heart and arteries of the ancient Egyptians they weren't in great shape.
Modern technologies used today to study in detail the characteristics of mummies, including the CT scan, which allows to obtain knowledge unthinkable until some time ago, have shown a thickening of the veins typical of diseases such as atherosclerosis , on a large number of specimens; also heart failure moreover, they must have been quite frequent among the population.
The cause of these diseases, not being able to be ascribed to smoking and poor diet (the Egyptians did not smoke and did not eat badly), must be sought according to experts in frequent infections, such as malaria, which in the long run ended up undermining the health of the heart and veins.