Ötzi, the Iceman, is the first victim in history of agricultural health disasters.

Ötzi, the Iceman, is the first victim in history of agricultural health disasters.

This summer I went to the museum in Bolzano to see it and it was really very exciting!

But for the younger ones, let's remember his incredible story.

September 19, 1991.

South Tyrol. Italian-Austrian border. 3,210 meters above sea level.

Two German hikers, Helmut and Erika Simon, are walking across the ice of the Tisenjoch, near the Similaun Glacier.

The sky is clear. The wind is icy.

Then, suddenly, something pops out of the ice.

It's not a stone.

It's not a branch.

It's... a shoulder. A hand. A face.

They think he is a mountaineer who died a few years ago.

But what they are looking at is much older.

It's not a corpse.

It's a natural mummy.



A perfectly preserved body, with clothes, equipment, tattoos.

A man who seems to still want to say something.

After more than five thousand years of silence.

When they take it out of the ice, it takes almost a week.

Because it is fused with the mountain.

It has become part of it.

Immortal.

No one yet imagines that this is the oldest human mummy ever found in Europe, dating back to around 3,300 years BC.

They named him Ötzi, like the Ötztal valley.

But he is much more than a name.

Ötzi is a witness.

A warrior.

A victim.

An enigma.

And from that moment, the ice begins to talk.

The period in which Ötzi lived was part of a period of profound upheavals that began in the Near East and spread throughout Europe, significantly changing lifestyles: people became farmers and breeders.

The so-called “Neolithic revolution” had far-reaching repercussions.

The populations settled down to cultivate and monitor the fields, and so they began to build permanent dwellings. During this period, ceramics became widespread.

The transition to agriculture and livestock farming laid the foundations for the diversification of work and led to the productive production of surpluses, valorizing private property.

In the Copper Age, settlements in the Alpine region multiplied by neighbouring cultural groups, attracted by the rich mineral deposits.

As a result, it became necessary to expand the cultivable areas and introduce intensive forms of cultivation.

The menu of the time was complemented by the collection of wild fruits.

But all this was disastrous for human health.

In fact, Ötzi was one of the first homo sapiens in history to experiment with the use of cereals, dairy products and legumes with devastating results.

And this is known for certain because (even if it may seem incredible) after 5300 years his last meal was still in his stomach!

Before dying, Ötzi had consumed einkorn wheat (an ancestor of our wheat), barley, hop hornbeam pollen grains, bracken fragments, and mosses.

Metabolic compounds also indicate the presence of ruminant fats (ibex) or dairy products (phytanic acid) and support the existence of whole grains (azealic acid) in the Iceman's diet.

Additionally, gamma-terpinene found in coriander oil, lemon oil, and other essential oils suggests the use of herbs.
The most abundant elements found in stomach contents were the nutritional minerals iron, calcium, zinc, magnesium, and sodium, consistent with the consumption of red meat or dairy products.

But at the time, legumes such as peas were also frequently used in the area, as well as other cereals such as normal spelt and naked wheat.

Result? At "only" 45 years old he looked like this:

• Moderate to mild joint degeneration in the right hip, cervical and lumbar spondylosis (problems with wear and tear of the vertebrae)

• Osteoarthritis of the knee and ankle, wear and tear due to physical loads and lifestyle.

• He had Helicobacter pylori, a stomach bacterium that can cause gastritis/ulcers.

• Intestinal worm infestation: Trichuris trichiura (“whipworm”) highlighted in the intestinal tracts.

• Possible Borrelia (responsible for borreliosis / Lyme disease) found through genetic traces.

• Caries, periodontitis, significant tooth wear.

• Signs of oral infections that may have caused persistent pain.

• Beau's lines on the nails: signs indicating that he was ill at least three times in the six months before his death, with one episode about two months before his death that lasted about two weeks.

• Finally, he also had a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular diseases (atherosclerosis, calcifications of the arteries) already present in his blood vessels

• Lactose intolerance

• Possible predisposition to obesity and type 2 diabetes

I remember that genetic predispositions remain silent if they are not activated by foods that are not similar to DNA, particularly cereals, legumes and dairy products.

Obviously, some of his problems were not only due to his new diet but also to the terrible environment where he lived (I remember that he was found 3,200 meters away).

Even with a very active lifestyle, Ötzi still accumulated wear and tear, inflammation, and infections.

This means that the struggle to stay healthy is certainly not just a matter of what you eat, but also of your environment, physical exertion, stress, exposure to bacteria, parasites, etc.

For example, his lungs were blackened by soot: he lived near heating or cooking fires and inhaled particulate matter, possibly resulting in silicosis.

Finally, let's not forget that he was killed with an arrow in the back, so the Similaun was certainly not a nice Disney-style setting at the time…

But there is no doubt that the dietary changes that occurred about a few millennia before Ötzi was born contributed significantly to his poor health.

This is because it takes 50,000-60,000 years for a new food to adapt to human DNA.

If you consider that 12,000 years have passed since the advent of agriculture and we are still paying the consequences (despite another 5,000 years of natural selection), imagine what poor Ötzi must have been through: he probably lived with pain, discomfort, inflammation, a stomach ache, difficulty with his teeth, etc.

I saw Ötzi from a few centimeters away in the museum: he is constantly kept at almost 100% relative humidity (like inside ice) and −6° degrees.

He looked like a child due to his small size (he was only 1.60 m tall, another consequence of the cereals and the like) and mummification further reduced his size.

There is no doubt about it: Ötzi's extraordinary story is tangible and extraordinary proof that the further a food has lived from our DNA, the more it will try to kill us and/or at least do us serious harm.

Just to understand each other better.

If someone knocks on your door, you look at the peephole and, if you know them, you let them in.

If you don't know him and he comes in anyway by breaking down the door, it generally doesn't end well.

Now, this is what happens when you eat grains, legumes and dairy products every day.

If you understand this, Ötzi's terrible life (and death) will not have been in vain.

Scientific sources and insights

Smithsonian Magazine – Genetic Profile of Ötzi
👉 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/famed-5300-year-old-alps-iceman-was-a-balding-middle-aged-man-with-dark-skin-and-eyes-180982744/

Phys.org – Genetics and Cardiovascular Risk
👉 https://phys.org/news/2012-02-genetic-analysis-reveals-otzi-iceman.html

CalAcademy – Health Issues and Lactose Intolerance
👉 https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/the-icemans-health-issues

ScienceDirect – Natural Therapies: Tattoos and Medicinal Plants
👉 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1879981718300883

PubMed – Medical analyses of joints, teeth, intestines, and lungs
👉 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34240239/

The Iceman's Last Meal Consisted of Fat, Wild Meat, and Cereals
Maixner, Frank et al. Current Biology, Volume 28, Issue 14, 2348 - 2355.e9
Smithsonian Magazine – Genetic Profile of Ötzi
👉 https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30703-6