David Silverman, an Egyptologist from the University of Pennsylvania and one of the curators of the King Tut exhibit's national tour, said, "What we can learn from [the tombs] is that they practiced hygiene, used makeup for protection as well as enhancement, and ate a diet high in grains and vegetables."
The poorer classes ate little meat and more grains and vegetables. The Bible tells us that leeks (with folic acid, vitamin C and more) were a staple in ancient Egypt. Meat seems to have been a funeral food.
"There is a scene in a museum in Philadelphia that shows a butcher preparing a leg of beef for a funeral," he said.
Today, many physicians endorse such a diet - low in meat, high in grains and vegetables. Diets such as the Mediterranean diet are widely recommended as a way to remain healthy into a long life.
But didn't the Egyptians die young? Tut's death at 19 is shrouded in mystery, but a high infant mortality rate and a life span of 40 years was normal in ancient Egypt.
It was not their diet that did them in, however. The culprits were diseases found in the water, and the effects of ever-present sand that eroded their teeth and brought about a host of other problems, including pneumonia. Ramses II died suffering from abscesses in his teeth.
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