Is being Scottish bad for your health?
Researchers at Edinburgh University revealed that an unknown "X-factor" - not linked to the usual suspects of poor diet, smoking, lack of exercise and poverty - appears to be responsible for those living in Scotland having a 50 per cent higher chance of getting the potentially fatal condition than people south of the Border.
They think an as-yet unidentified genetic, behavioural and environmental factor - such as the water or having Celtic genes - could be responsible.
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Hide AdThe study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, investigated the backgrounds of more than 6,000 people aged 45 to 74 in Scotland and England.
Even when personal economic circumstances, health, behaviour and blood chemistry, including cholesterol, were taken into account, the average person in Scotland is still 50 per cent more likely to have heart disease than in England.
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