By Daniel Flynn
ATHENS (Reuters Life!) – Monks from medieval male-only communities on Greece’s Mount Athos have far lower levels of heart and lung disease than average Europeans despite only rudimentary healthcare, Medecins du Monde said on Wednesday.
Doctors from the French medical charity who visited the 1,000-year-old, reclusive religious community at the weekend to provide medical attention found its monks to be in exceptionally good health.
“Cardiological problems faced by the monks are very few and have no relation, in terms of frequency, with the general population,” said MDM Greece’s spokeswoman Sophia Ioannou, adding that lung problems were also practically unknown.
The seven-man team of specialists treated around 200 monks from four of the most remote monasteries on Mount Athos, which lies some 270 km (170 miles) north of Athens on the Halkidiki peninsula. Eye problems were the most common complaint.
It must be the food, I suppose.
See previous post about food.
hv
