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In this section

• Man\'s genes \'key to baby\'s sex\'
  A man's genetic make-up may play a role in whether he has sons or daughters, a study of hundreds of years of family trees suggests.
• Unicef child study disputed by UK
  The UK government has complained about a study saying early years childcare and education in England is falling behind that of other developed nations.
• Pop tunes used to calm babies
  Rocking a baby to sleep has been given a whole new meaning as mothers ditch traditional lullabies for popular pop and rock tunes.
• Caesarean increases asthma risk
  Babies born by Caesarean section are more prone to developing asthma, say Dutch researchers.
• Left-handers\\\' lower test scores
  Left-handed pupils do less well in tests than their right-handed peers, a study from Bristol University suggests.
• Obesity \'programmed before birth\'
  Eating a high-fat diet in pregnancy may cause changes in the foetal brain that lead to over-eating and obesity early in life, research suggests.

Love handles raise death risk

Carrying extra fat around your middle dramatically increases your risk of early death, even if your overall weight is normal, say researchers.

A study of almost 360,000 people from nine European countries found waist size a "powerful indicator" of risk.

Each extra 2ins (5cm) raised the chance of early death by between 13% and 17%.

Click here to read more and see a video on how to measure your love handles