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If you thought the former Alpine traveler known as Otzi – and often known simply as the Iceman – scraped by a diet of grasses and fodder berries, you would have wrong.
A new comprehensive study of its stomach contents reveals that Otzi, who died about 5,300 years ago on a mountain in the Italian Eastern Alps, died with a belly full of oily meat, some whole seeds of the wheat plant einkorn and maybe a little goat's milk or cheese
Judging by the remains of plant spores found in his gut, the Iceman may have left home with a mobile meal of smoked or dried meat wrapped in large coarse leaves. from a fern fern
This was not a bad picnic for a peripatetic limb of a primitive hunter-gatherer-farmer society. There were traces of herbs, perhaps used to flavor meat or bread made from grains that we would now call "old". The meat came from an ibex – a species of wild goat also known as steinbock – and red deer.
The belief of some researchers, based on an initial analysis of his hair, was such that Otzi was a vegetarian.
Almost half of what was left in his stomach was fat because of the meat he consumed. This fat would have given his last meal the luxurious sensation in the mouth of bacon.
Muscle and heart meat would have delivered the satiating properties of the protein. It was a fuel well suited to the rigors of criminal harassment, hunting and possibly grazing animals in the cold high Alps.
This fat and carnivorous diet would probably have obstructed Otzi's arteries and proved that this process was already underway. came from previous research. But since it was unlikely that Iceman would survive something resembling modern old age, it would probably not be the death of him. (It is estimated that he was about 45 years old when he died and that he probably survived most of his contemporaries.)
As a food package, fern fern is a more questionable choice: It can cause bleeding and anemia when ingested. [19659002] But what killed Otzi in the end seems to have been an arrow in the back. And what happened at a time after his death – either a deliberate burial or a final accidental fall in a glacial ravine – caused the freezing and mummification of his remains until they were discovered by hikers. in 1991.
Gregory S. Thomas, a cardiologist from the Institute of Heart and Vascular MemorialCare of Long Beach, Calif., who studied ancient specimens to discern the roots of heart disease, calls Otzi "the the best preserved ancient mummy ever discovered. " Thursday, in the journal Current Biology, inspired scientists "to look into the last meals of the mummies of other ancient cultures," he said.
Thomas, who was not involved in the research, added that the study will help old questions of universal interest: what is an ideal diet? and how does what we eat affect our health, our energy and our ability to survive in the spaces and times we inhabit?
Preserved in ice for millennia Otzi gave the modern world its best chance to explore the daily realities of life in the Chalcolithic era. This tumultuous period marks the transition of Southern Europe from primitive agriculture with stone tools to civilizations that forged metals, developed trade, and introduced complex modern societies.
Iceman's mummified remains were extensively studied had already provided some clues about his diet. But these analyzes focused on the contents of the lower bowel of Iceman, the leftover food eaten at least eight hours earlier, including deer meat, cereals and fruits
These Studies also showed that Iceman was infected with an intestinal parasite called whipworm, and that he was lactose intolerant. And they helped chart a turning point in the dental health of humanity: the introduction of carbohydrates derived from cereals, which had probably deposited sugars on Iceman's teeth.
The new analysis was made possible by the discovery of Iceman's stomach. inexplicably migrated upwards during the process of mummification.
Researchers at the Institute of Mummy Studies in Bolzano, Italy, where Iceman remains are stored, spotted the elusive stomach when they were examining CT scans in 2009 This led to an intensive analysis of its content. . The team, led by Frank Maixner and Albert Zink, used methods ranging from microscopic observation to genomic analysis.
The last meal of Otzi, concludes the authors, was "a balanced blend of carbohydrates, proteins and fats perfectly adjusted to the energy."
The tools put in the new study gave Maixner and Zink the ability "to examine DNA, proteins, carbohydrates and fat up to the atomic level," Thomas said. "In the past, we could look in a microscope and watch the meat of an old meal. But we could not examine the DNA, for example, to determine what animal was, and which part of the animal. "
The results sparked a new cycle of excited chatter among those who study ancient human cultures to discern the origins" He would need fat as a source of energy, and I'm sure he It would have burned, "said Dr. Anthony Heagerty, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Manchester in England." The analyzes of Otzi's bones suggest that his lifestyle was far from normal. "
"It is interesting that Iceman's scans showed significant calcification in the arteries and an aorta indicating an advanced state of atherosclerosis. Heagerty said. In the end, he died violently, but "he too was in danger of a heart attack," speculated Heagerty.
Meats found in the belly of Iceman – the heart and muscular flesh of ibex and red deer – were both wild and lean. He said, and recent studies, including research on the cardiovascular health of the Tsimane people in Bolivia, suggest that when it comes to heart disease, it may be the fat content of the heart. the meat, more than the amount consumed, which matters.
Tsimane, a farmer-gatherer, eats about the same percentage of protein as the typical American diet, the fat content of the meat is about half of that of breeding animals in the United States, says Thomas
Even at the then advanced age of about 45, Otzi appeared to be "a lifelong athlete" for whom 10,000 steps a day "would probably be a warm up," he says.
"A subsistence hunter, his chief task would be to find food for himself, and if he had a family, for they too, "said Thomas. His daily efforts "would also protect his heart and overall health."
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