Society :The surprising thing ancient mummies tell us about what to eat
Courtesy : The Washington Post
On a foggy day in August 1936, an anthropologist and his crew set sail for Kagamil Island, a small volcanic speck of hot springs and cliffs in the Bering Sea. A person identified as “Brown Bear” had told them of a cave full of mummies and other human remains. Shortly after landing, they found the opening in the rocks near a steam jet.
According to the notes of the anthropologist, Ales Hrdlicka, the cave contained “wonderful riches”:
“Space within cave is limited, in most of it one can not stand up, in none of it can use shovels; must work with hands like badgers. ... As the salt deposit is penetrated into, there appears mummy after mummy, in different states of preservation — male, female and especially children ... a huge whale shoulder blade ... two entire kayaks.”
Nearly 80 years later, the mummies from Kagamil and elsewhere have excited the interest of scientists who say what they have learned from the remains challenges a central tenet of conventional thinking about what we ought to eat.
Heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S., is often blamed on modern diets and a sedentary lifestyle. According to this thinking, if only people ate the “right” foods and exercised more, they could live longer. This view is encapsulated in the current version of the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are under review and being reissued soon. They have long recommended dietary habits deemed good for your heart — lower intakes of saturated fat and salt, more emphasis on lean meat and seafood.
Click here for full story
On a foggy day in August 1936, an anthropologist and his crew set sail for Kagamil Island, a small volcanic speck of hot springs and cliffs in the Bering Sea. A person identified as “Brown Bear” had told them of a cave full of mummies and other human remains. Shortly after landing, they found the opening in the rocks near a steam jet.
According to the notes of the anthropologist, Ales Hrdlicka, the cave contained “wonderful riches”:
“Space within cave is limited, in most of it one can not stand up, in none of it can use shovels; must work with hands like badgers. ... As the salt deposit is penetrated into, there appears mummy after mummy, in different states of preservation — male, female and especially children ... a huge whale shoulder blade ... two entire kayaks.”
Nearly 80 years later, the mummies from Kagamil and elsewhere have excited the interest of scientists who say what they have learned from the remains challenges a central tenet of conventional thinking about what we ought to eat.
Heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S., is often blamed on modern diets and a sedentary lifestyle. According to this thinking, if only people ate the “right” foods and exercised more, they could live longer. This view is encapsulated in the current version of the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are under review and being reissued soon. They have long recommended dietary habits deemed good for your heart — lower intakes of saturated fat and salt, more emphasis on lean meat and seafood.
Click here for full story
Comments
Post a Comment