14 DAY TRIAL // According to a new scientific study, it would appear that the heavy make-up that the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra donned in fact had several benefits beyond the aesthetic ones. The paper reveals that the large amount of substances she used to give her eyes their characteristic look prevented numerous eye diseases from potentially setting in, sparing the queen from a death that would have appeared “too human.” Details of this investigation appear in the latest issue of the respected scientific journal Analytical Chemistry, the BBC News reports.
The research also discovered that one of the key ingredients that gave the make-up its amazing properties was lead salt, which was heavily used in such substances in the past. One of the chemicals that are produced in very low levels by these salts is nitric oxide. The compound is known even now for its ability to bolster the action of the immune system, which could have thus fought more effectively against bacteria that might have attempted to infect the queen's eyes. In addition, the effect of the nitric oxide would have extended throughout her body, allowing her to become immune to other diseases as well.
Previous theories on Cleopatra's make-up had it that it might have been hazardous to her health, on account of the fact that it contained a lot of lead. Experts involved in the new study managed to produce a sample of what the make-up might have been like, after more than a months of working on it. The sample proved that, in very small quantities, lead could actually have a positive effect on the human body, such as the one directed at the immune system. The work was conducted by researchers at the Louvre Museum and the CNRS research institute.
“We knew ancients Greeks and Romans too had noted the make-up had medicinal properties, but wanted to determine exactly how,” Philippe Walter, the lead investigator on the new effort, explained. “In stimulating nonspecific immunological defenses, one may argue that these lead compounds were deliberately manufactured and used in ancient Egyptian formulations to prevent and treat eye illnesses by promoting the action of immune cells,” the journal entry concludes.