Health aNd Fitness Guide

Soccer can thrill, and kill, too. A study on German football fans showed that they were more at risk of suffering heart attack while watching their team play. The risk was more than three times for men and about two times for women. Researchers at Ludwig-Maxmilians University in Munich studied 4,279 medical records of Germans who had acute cardiac events during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and found that cardiac emergencies increased on days the German team played. The most number of cardiac cases were reported during the semi-final, which Germany lost to Italy, and the quarter-final against Argentina, which Germany won.