A weekly round-up of news affecting your health.
HEART FAILURE IN MEN LINKED TO OVERWEIGHT TEENS
Men who were overweight as teenagers are more likely to develop heart failure in early middle age, a Swedish study has found.
The researchers followed more than 1.5 million 18-year-old Swedish men and found those who had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of above 20 had an increased level of heart failure, and that risk increased by 16 per cent for every extra BMI point.
Given the growing trend of childhood and adolescent obesity the findings, published in the European Heart Journal, indicate heart failure will become a major threat to health worldwide.
Professor Annika Rosengren says action must be taken to create a society that encourages people to eat less and move more.
"This is more important than hassling people into dieting whatever shape they are. Once established, overweight and obesity is much harder to tackle," she says.
DON'T SCRATCH ITCHY MOSQUITO BITES
Aside from being really annoying, the itchy red lump that develops on your skin when you get bitten by a mosquito may be helping viruses - like Zika - spread, say UK scientists.
A mouse study published in journal Immunity suggests the swelling and irritation that make mosquito bites so unpleasant may provide a mechanism by which viruses are able to replicate and spread.
It was found that in the absence of a bite the viruses failed to replicate but the presence of mosquito bites at the infection site resulted in higher levels of the virus.
The "surprising results" could help in the fight against mosquito-borne viruses, says research fellow Clive McKimmie from the University of Leeds.
"We're quite keen to see if using topical creams to suppress bite inflammation will enable you to stop a virus from making someone as sick as it otherwise would do," McKimmie said.
GOOD NEWS FOR PMS SUFFERERS
Scientists may have have finally discovered why some women suffer very painful periods and mood swings associated with PMS.
Women with premenstrual symptoms (PMS) including mood swings, weight gain/bloating, and abdominal cramps have elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
A study, published in the Journal of Women's Health, surveyed more than 3000 women and found the presence of CRP appears to be linked to PMS symptoms.
This is good news for sufferers, says the journal's editor, Dr Susan Kornstein.
"Recognising an underlying inflammatory basis for PMS would open the door to additional treatment and prevention options, and create a new opportunity for long-term risk intervention."
ANOTHER REASON NOT TO SMOKE - IT DAMAGES SPERM DNA
A recent study has found that that sperm of men who smoke has a greater extent of DNA damage than that of non-smokers, further demonstrating the harmful effects of smoking on a man's fertility.
The researchers involved in the BJU International study also assessed 422 proteins in participants' sperm. One protein was absent, 27 proteins were underrepresented, and 6 proteins were over-represented in smokers.
Analyses of those proteins suggest cigarette smoking may promote an inflammatory response in the male reproductive tract.
"More and more studies are demonstrating a harmful effect of smoking on male fertility," says D Ricardo Pimenta Bertolla, senior author of the study.
LOVE IT OR HATE IT, BROCCOLI HAS JUST GOT MORE SUPER
Eating broccoli could lower your risk of coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, asthma, and several types of cancer, a new study suggests.
Researchers at University of Illinois have identified the genes responsible for producing phenolic compounds such as flavonoids - a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory benefits - that are found in the "superfood".
By identifying those genes, researchers are a step closer to breeding the green vegetable with mega-doses of phenolic compounds.
