Our high well being tales this 12 months: Declining sperm, cryopreserved our bodies and cancer-fighting bananas

This 12 months has once more generated loads of headlines about COVID-19, in addition to outbreaks in mpox (previously often called monkeypox), hepatitis, RSV and Strep A.

However there’s much more on the market in well being information. Listed here are seven of our hottest articles you’ll have missed this 12 months.

1. Sperm counts are falling

Human sperm doesn’t seem like in nice form – and specialists are warning of a looming fertility disaster.

New analysis exhibits that sperm counts worldwide have halved over the previous 50 years and the decline is gaining tempo. The drop, the authors warned, may grow to be an issue too massive to disregard, with the potential to “threaten mankind’s survival”.

Whereas the research didn’t discover the causes of this collapse, the authors say it displays “a world disaster associated to our trendy setting and life-style”. They level to the disrupting function of chemical substances on our hormonal and reproductive methods.

2. Parental age tied to kids’s danger of being bipolar

As extra {couples} postpone having kids till they’re older and really feel extra settled of their lives and careers, and with many now counting on fertility remedies to conceive, delayed parenthood brings its personal well being issues.

A brand new research has discovered that ladies who grew to become moms aged 35 and older face a better danger of getting a baby with bipolar dysfunction. For males over 45, the chances are 29 per cent greater than for males aged 25 to 29.

The explanations for this elevated danger are nonetheless very a lot unknown, the researchers say, with each genetic and environmental components probably enjoying an element.

3. Your blood kind could have an effect on your danger of stroke

In case your blood kind is A, we’ve obtained some unhealthy information: it’s possible you’ll be at greater danger – by about 16 per cent – of getting a stroke earlier than the age of 60 than individuals with different blood teams.

Researchers discovered that these with blood kind O, the commonest group, are much less prone to have an early-onset stroke.

It’s nonetheless unclear as to why blood kind A confers this greater danger however researchers suppose it might need one thing to do with blood clotting components. Earlier analysis has instructed hyperlinks between blood kind and the chance of growing different circumstances resembling coronary coronary heart illness.

4. Persons are cryopreserving their family members

On the Alcor Life Extension Basis within the US state of Arizona, the our bodies of just about 200 people and 100 pets are cryopreserved at subfreezing temperatures inside massive liquid nitrogen tanks.

Many have been terminally in poor health with ailments that can not be cured right now, and the hope is that they’ll be revived when expertise has progressed sufficient to deal with them.

After the affected person has been declared legally lifeless, the physique is soaked in an ice tub, whereas a mechanical CPR system is used to make sure blood circulation, and medicines defend the cells in opposition to injury.

5. This nation makes use of essentially the most antidepressants

Iceland was the second happiest nation on the earth in 2020 in keeping with the World Happiness Report, however it additionally consumes essentially the most antidepressants in Europe.

Knowledge from the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Improvement (OECD) exhibits that antidepressant consumption consumption has soared throughout the continent over the previous twenty years. In 14 out of 18 European international locations, it greater than doubled.

Since 2010, the rise has been the best in Estonia, Latvia and the UK.

6. Spain is the primary nation in Europe to introduce menstrual go away

In December, Spain grew to become the primary nation in Europe to introduce paid menstrual go away for ladies affected by particularly painful intervals.

The new law requires ladies to acquire a physician’s word, with go away being paid by the nation’s social safety system from their first time without work work.

Worldwide, menstrual go away is at the moment supplied solely in a small variety of international locations, and it’s extremely controversial, with debate centring over whether or not they assist or hinder ladies at work.

7. Inexperienced bananas are good for you

When you like your bananas barely inexperienced, it’s possible you’ll be getting some sudden well being advantages.

A 20-year research has discovered {that a} starch in unripe bananas can scale back the chance of some cancers by greater than 60 per cent.

Sufferers with Lynch syndrome – an inherited dysfunction that will increase the chance of most cancers, notably within the giant gut and rectum – took a dose of this starch for a median of two years equal to what you’d get from consuming a barely inexperienced banana every day.

The research discovered the starch slashed the incidence of cancers within the higher a part of the intestine, which docs say could be arduous to identify and diagnose. The impact of taking the complement was obvious for 10 years after sufferers stopped taking it.

And in the event you choose your bananas good and ripe – there’s some extra excellent news: the sort of starch can also be present in oats, cereals, pasta, rice, peas and beans.