Back to the roots: dental calculus analysis of the first documented case of coeliac disease
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(2020) 12:6
ORIGINAL PAPER
Back to the roots: dental calculus analysis of the first documented case of coeliac disease Angelo Gismondi 1 & Alessia D’Agostino 1 & Gabriele Di Marco 1 & Cristina Martínez-Labarga 1 Olga Rickards 1 & Antonella Canini 1
&
Valentina Leonini 2 &
Received: 7 November 2018 / Accepted: 4 December 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Dental calculus of a Roman woman (late first century–early second century CE), supposed to be the first historical evidence of coeliac disease (CD), was subjected to archaeobotanical investigations for reconstructing diet and phytotherapeutic practices. Light microscopy provided the proof she came in contact with gluten-rich cereals (i.e. Triticeae, Aveninae), which, maybe, were deleterious for a CD genetic predisposed individual like her. Gaschromatography mass-spectrometry revealed that the young woman ingested, at least once in lifetime, plant foods and several herbs (e.g. Brassicaceae, Mentha sp., Valeriana sp., Apiaceae, Asteraceae, grapes or wine, honeydew or manna). About the latter, surprisingly, markers of Curcuma sp. and Panax sp. were detected. The consumption of these rhizomes, already used in the ancient Oriental medicine, supported the existence of cultural contact and exchange with the Eastern Asia. Encouraged by modern knowledge, we hypothesised that the inhumate used these roots as natural remedies to soothe her pathological condition. Our data provided information about the key role of the ethnobotany in Roman Imperial age. Keywords Gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry . Light microscopy . Starch granules . Plant drugs . Secondary metabolites . Exotic rhizomes
Abbreviations LM Light microscopy GC-MS Gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry CD Coeliac disease EPA Eicosapentaenoic acid DHA Docosahexaenoic acid
Introduction Since time immemorial, plants have played a key role in human health and nutrition. In particular, wild species represented an essential part of the diet and their use was based on the capacity to distinguish edible plants from poisonous ones.
Angelo Gismondi and Alessia D’Agostino are co-first authors as they equally contributed to this work * Antonella Canini [email protected]
Valentina Leonini [email protected]
Angelo Gismondi [email protected]
Olga Rickards [email protected]
Alessia D’Agostino [email protected]
1
Gabriele Di Marco [email protected]
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
2
Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la città metropolitana di Firenze e le province di Pistoia e Prato, Piazza Pitti 1, 50125 Florence, Italy
Cristina Martínez-Labarga [email protected]
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Moreover, ancient communities sought natural drugs for treating ailments (Guarrera and Savo 2016; Petrovska 2012). Indeed, it is well-known that plant organs (e.g. fruit, seed, root, leaf) and their derivatives (e.g. honey, resin, wine)
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