Elvis died from constipation

CBR11bingo: ScienceIf you do a Google search for “how did Elvis Presley die,” most answers will mention prescription drugs and cardiac arrest. Until I read Gulp, I hadn’t heard that the King had what’s known as a megacolon, which is exactly what it sounds like: a big-ass large intestine. According to his personal physician George Nichopoulos, the condition gave Elvis such terrible constipation that Nichopoulous had to administer laxatives and enemas on an almost daily basis. Whether the condition was the result of genetics or years of drug use is up for debate. Anecdotally it’s been said that Elvis was troubled by constipation from the age of two, to the extent that his mother had to stimulate him to “expel.” This can’t be confirmed because Elvis’s mother died when he was in his early twenties, and if Priscilla knows anything about it, she’s not talking.Death by constipation is just one of the mysteries of the alimentary canal that Mary Roach investigates in Gulp. But wait–I’m starting at the finale. Roach’s examination of all things digestive is methodical and organized, starting with our sense of smell and emotional taboos towards food and working up–or rather, down–to where our food exits our body (or not, as in the case of poor Elvis).Roach asks the questions you never knew needed answers: Why does haute cuisine from Ludo Lefebvre’s latest pop-up go from to-die-for to disgusting after a millisecond in your mouth? Because in order to get food to a swallowable state, our teeth, tongue, saliva, and other oral tools are working hard to turn our food into chewed-up, ugly particles. Why doesn’t the fish that a penguin swallows and marches back to her young several days’ journey away digest in her stomach before she can deliver it to the hungry baby? Because penguin tummies are like little refrigerators, dropping the temperature enough so that gastric juices become inactive, keeping the food from rotting during the trip. If cows are so full of gas, why don’t you ever hear them burp? Because cows and other ruminants can reroute methane into their lungs and quietly exhale it; otherwise, you’d have wild prey animals out on the plains constantly announcing their position to predators by belching after every meal. Are their any health benefits to rectal feeding? Well, actually. . .no. Just no.I’m still not convinced that last one needed to be answered, but the point

If you Google the terms “constipation” and “heart attack” it’s not long before the name Elvis Presley crops up. Elvis had a longstanding history of chronic constipation and it’s believed he was straining very hard to poo, which then led to a fatal heart attack. We don’t know what really happened to the so-called King of Rock “n” Roll back in 1977. There were likely several contributing factors to his death, and this theory is one of many.But after this famous case researchers took a strong interest in the link between constipation and the risk of a heart attack.This includes a recent study led by Australian researchers involving data from thousands of people.Are constipation and heart attacks linked?Large population studies show constipation is linked to an increased risk of heart attacks. For example, an Australian study involved more than 540,000 people over 60 in hospital for a range of conditions. It found constipated patients had a higher risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes compared to non-constipated patients of the same age. A Danish study of more than 900,000 people from hospitals and hospital outpatient clinics also found that people who were constipated had an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.It was unclear, however, if this relationship between constipation and an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes would hold true for healthy people outside hospital. These Australian and Danish studies also did not factor in the effects of drugs used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension), which can make you constipated. Researchers have studied thousands of people to see if there’s a link between constipation and heart attacks. fongbeerredhot/Shutterstock How about this new study?The recent international study led by Monash University researchers found a connection between constipation and an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure in a general population.The researchers analysed data from the UK Biobank, a database of health-related information from about half a million people in the United Kingdom. The researchers identified more than 23,000 cases of constipation and accounted for the effect of drugs to treat high blood pressure, which can lead to constipation. People with constipation (identified through medical records or via a questionnaire) were twice as likely to have a heart attack, stroke or heart failure as those without constipation. The researchers found a strong link between high blood pressure and constipation. Individuals with hypertension who were also constipated had a 34% increased risk of a major heart event compared to those with just hypertension. The study only looked at the data from people of European ancestry. However, there is good reason to believe the link between constipation and heart attacks applies to other populations. A Japanese study looked at more than 45,000 men and women in the general population. It found people passing a bowel motion once every two to three days had a higher risk of dying from heart disease compared with ones who passed at least one bowel motion a day. How might constipation cause

Which stands for Shelby County Medical Examiner and Memphis Police Department.AdvertisementWhat is maybe a little unusual is that some physical information that most would assume is fairly relevant to a death investigation is notably absent. While Presley's eye and hair color are noted, as is his lack of facial hair, the fields for weight, length, body temperature, and date and time were all left blank. It's well known that toward the end of his life, Presley put on a significant amount of weight, with the Mirror reporting that at one point, he weighed in at 350 pounds.Additionally, a figure for Elvis' weight could have perhaps shed some light on one of the rumored factors in Elvis' death: constipation. According to Mary Roach's "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal," constipation was a very real problem for Elvis and he received enemas and laxatives daily to deal with the condition. It's rumored that Elvis had what is known as a "megacolon" which was filled with impacted material (via NBC News). Advertisement Elvis' injuries and probable cause of death Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Dr. Francisco lists Elvis Presley's manner of death as "natural" and there are some additional details that point to a probable cause of death. By the time the medical examiner took a look at Elvis' body, he had reached rigor mortis, a stiffening of the deceased's joints and muscles that can sometimes shed some light on whether a body was moved after death (via Science Direct). AdvertisementThe next spot on the report is for liver or livor color, which Dr. Francisco marked with an indistinct letter along with a checkmark in the "Fixed" box. The "livor color" marked on the death report likely refers to livor mortis, which has to do with how the decedent's blood pools in the body

Elvis was more than interested when he saw the car. In fact, Elvis owned four of them during his lifetime, although some sources say that he had five Stutz Blackhawks to his name. 4. De Tomaso PanteraElvis preferred luxury coupes and limousines, but he owned several sports cars. And, one of those was a yellow De Tomaso Pantera he got in the early ’70s. The car became famous because Elvis shot it several times since it refused to start and he got angry. The yellow Pantera is in a private collection today. They left the bullet holes intact as a testament to Elvis’s sometimes strange and erratic behavior. 3. Ferrari Dino 308 GT4One of the cars visitors can see at Graceland is the black Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 Elvis purchased in 1975. The car was his first and only Ferrari, but he rarely used it. During his last years, due to his weight problem, Elvis preferred more comfortable, spacious models and personal luxury cars. 2. Cadillac SevilleThe two-tone 1977 Cadillac Seville was the last Cadillac Elvis bought shortly before he died in 1977. At first, the Seville was a down-sized Cadillac. And, even though it was a Caddy, some buyers regarded it as not as good as those regular full-sized models from before. However, Elvis bought it and loved it, so it means the Seville is a true Cadillac from bumper to bumper. 1. Cadillac Miller-Meteor Traditional HearseThe last Cadillac Elvis rode in was a 1977 Miller-Meteor Hearse, which they used in his funeral procession. The white hearse was at the front of the long motorcade of white Cadillacs, police bikes, and other vehicles. It was the appropriate way to say farewell to the King of Rock and Roll as well as one of the biggest car enthusiasts in popular