The face of the Mona Lisa is probably the most iconic in all of art. The coy, thin smile, the smooth cheeks, the fatty folds underneath squinty eyes.

This week — in what must have been an extremely entertaining lecture — an Italian doctor said that Mona’s features reveal that she didn’t eat too well. From the BBC (via Spoonful of Medicine):

For Dr Vito Franco, from Palermo University, she shows clear signs of a build-up of fatty acids under the skin, caused by too much cholesterol. He also suggests there seems to be a lipoma, or benign fatty-tissue tumour, in her right eye.

Dr Franco says his medical examinations reveal more than artistic viewings… “The people depicted in art reveal their physicality, tell us of their vulnerable humanity, regardless of the artist’s awareness of it,” he [said].