A NEW smartphone app can tell you if you’re at risk of heart disease, stroke or diabetes, experts say.

MyBVI is an at-home body scan tool that analyses your health in as little as 30 seconds.

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It uses two photos to reveal your body fat, visceral fat, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio and waist circumference – without the need for a tape measure.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) and taking into account your age and gender, this then produces a body volume index (BVI) figure from zero to 20, which determines your likelihood of future health problems.

Generally, the higher the number, the higher your chances of falling ill.

A BVI score below 13 is considered low risk, while figures above 13 indicate an increased risk.

The technology is 23 per cent more accurate than body mass index (BMI) which relies on weight and height alone, scientists claim.

Inventor Richard Barnes said: “With MyBVI, users simply take two images with their smartphone or tablet from the comfort of their home, and within seconds, they receive their measurements.

“It considers where fat is distributed on the body, and how that impacts health, rather than just on total weight.

“Anyone can do it. And the images are never stored or used, ensuring complete privacy.

“BVI is a predictive risk indicator for three of the most significant diseases in global healthcare – diabetes, cardiovascular disease (which encompasses heart disease and stroke) and high blood pressure.”

Developer Select Research hopes it can help ease the burden on medical staff by allowing patients to submit images from home, eliminating the need for GP or other clinic visits.

Those deemed high-risk can then be monitored, “enabling cost-effective preventive care and earlier diagnosis”.

It should also reduce the chances of ‘false positives’ for obesity, particularly in patients with muscular builds, ethnic minorities and women, according to the team.

Richard said: “The government now has an opportunity to fulfil its promise of creating a future-ready NHS by adopting a more accurate understanding of body composition and its impact on health.

“BVI accurately identifies more than four out of five patients who might be at risk of heart disease, stroke or type 2 diabetes – marking a 23 per cent improvement over BMI and outperforming manual measurements.

“These findings indicate that BVI is a more effective risk indicator than BMI, which was created in 1835 and is outdated and inaccurate when assessing individual health.

“After 18 years of development, we’ve created an app that offers more comprehensive body measurements that lowers the cost of entry and could become a new medical standard.

“It offers a more comprehensive approach, with detailed data on total body fat, visceral fat, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, waist circumference and BVI.

“Maintaining good health is important for everyone, so it’s crucial that people have access to accurate tools like MyBVI to make the right decisions about their health.”

It could serve as a powerful screening tool for identifying metabolic syndrome

Researchers

MyBVI is free to download but requires a £3.99-a-month subscription to unlock “premium benefits”.

It presents data on a graph to help users understand how their body changes over time.

The app predicts someone’s metabolic syndrome risk and severity.

A study published in the European Heart Journal – Digital Health found it to be more accurate than BMI.

“The tool offers a more precise alternative to other measures of disease risk, like BMI and waist-to-hip ratio,” the researchers said.

“It could serve as a powerful screening tool for identifying metabolic syndrome.”

Metabolic syndrome can lead to a heart attack, stroke, diabetes, liver disease, and other serious health problems.

People with metabolic syndrome typically have apple-shaped bodies, meaning they carry a lot of their weight around their middle.

NEARLY one in six bunged-up Brits are banished from their beds when they have a cold – spending as long as three nights in exile.

A poll of 2,000 adults found 45 per cent of these ended up seeking refuge in the spare room, while 40 per cent have been forced to flee to the sofa in the dead of night.

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And 18 per cent ended up sleeping in solitude on the floor of the kid’s room.

Dr Sara Kayat, who has partnered with nasal spray brand Stérimar, which commissioned the research, said: “Suffering from a blocked nose or congestion can make it harder to get to sleep at night.

“A blocked nose can actually feel worse at night because more blood flows to it when you lie down, which can add to the nasal inflammation and congestion.”

It also emerged for 53 per cent their snoring will get worse when they can’t breathe clearly because of a cold or blocked nose.

These ailments will impact the quality of sleep for 70 per cent of adults, depriving them of an average of three hours each night of precious kip.

As a result of this, 61 per cent are low on energy the next day, with 48 per cent being more irritable.

Over a third (37 per cent) of these will struggle to concentrate and 29 per cent won’t be on top form at work, the figures found.

Dr Sara Kayat added: “Having your sleep disturbed by a cold or blocked nose is bad enough.

“But the survey shows that your sleep disturbance can quickly become the source of low energy, negative mood and even relationship grumbles if you keep your loved one awake.

“It’s important to find a solution quickly that helps you breathe more easily, and that lets those around you get good quality sleep too.”

The cold and flu remedies that experts say actually work

Mike Hewitson, a pharmacist from Somerset, suggests the best thing someone can buy when they have a cold or flu is standard paracetamol.

“I generally advise people to use unbranded medicines which are often as effective as the branded products, but at a fraction of the price,” he said.

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Paracetamol can help to “control the fever” which often accompanies the flu, Mike said.

Sadik Al-Hassan, a pharmacist based in Bath, added that medicines such as Lemsip Max, which contain a combination of drugs, can also be helpful at reducing symptoms.

“The paracetamol can help reduce pain, the decongestant to clear out the sinuses and vitamin C to help you fight infections faster,” he said.

Both pharmacists warned patients against Echinacea – a herbal supplement which some take to boost immunity.

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“While it probably isn’t going to do much harm to take it for most people, there isn’t much evidence to suggest it actually helps,” Mike said.

The experts stressed that prevention is better than cure and there are many effective ways at reducing your chances of getting ill in the first place.

Sadik said: “There are a lot of cold and flu prevention nasal sprays on the market which create a gel barrier which words as a physical barrier.”

Meanwhile, Mike pointed out that it isn’t too late to get a flu jab.

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“Many pharmacies will also be able to provide you with a private flu vaccination service if you don’t qualify for the free NHS jab,” he said.

A MAN’S bout of self pleasure ended in a potentially deadly heart emergency, as he suffered a torn artery after masturbating.

The 59-year-old man called an ambulance after getting a tight jaw and tingling in his hands following his solo sesh.

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Doctors were baffled by his symptoms, at first fearing he had a severe case of sepsis.

But a battery of tests revealed he had in fact suffered a tear to his aorta, the body’s largest artery that carries blood from the heart to the body.

This resulted in severe aortic regurgitation, a medical emergency where the blood flows backwards into the heart.

Aortic dissection – as a tear to the aorta is called – is a rare condition that can be life threatening if not identified and treated promptly.

People suffering the health emergency usually experience a sharp, ripping pain in their chest or upper back, as well as shortness of breath, heavy sweating, confusion and severe stomach pain, the Cleveland Clinic states.

But unusually, the patient in question suffered no chest pain, shortness of breath, loss of consciousness or nausea as would be expected in health emergency of this type.

Only about 6.4 per cent of patients with aortic dissections don’t experience chest pain, doctors from the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai hospital in New York – who oversaw the man’s case – wrote.

“As such, painless dissections are atypical presentations, more likely to be associated with increased mortality,” the said in a report published to the journal Clinic and Experimental Emergency Medicine.

It’s also unusual for the man to have suffered the tear following masturbation – although he’s not the first to do so.

Another report details the case of a 60-year-old man who experienced a “ripping” pain in his chest, neck and back in the hours after indulging in a bout of masturbation.

The 59-year old patient had a past medical history of high blood pressure, which puts extra strain on the heart, blood vessels and other organs and raises the risk of experiencing heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

He also had a rare form of chronic pancreatitis, inflammation of the pancreas caused by the immune system attacking the organ, as well as chronic renal insufficiency – a long-term condition where the kidneys don’t work as well as they should.

But the day before he suffered his health emergency, the man had been on a 3-mile jog.

After his solo sesh, the man described experiencing “lightheadedness, a tingling sensation to both hands, and jaw tightness”, according to the report.

Feeling unwell, he decided to lie down and unintentionally wet himself.

He decided to call an ambulance after this episode of urinary incontinence.

Test conducted at the hospital revealed he was suffering from extremely low blood pressure and a slow pulse.

Medics feared he may be suffering from sepsis – a life threatening overreaction to an infection – and gave the man a dose of antibiotics.

Though his condition seemed to improve, the patient reported feeling dizzy when trying to walk and he underwent further monitoring and tests to his heart.

At this point, an ultrasound scan revealed that he’d suffered a e type A aortic dissection – a tear starting on the upper part of the aorta closer to the heart.

This can be immediately life-threatening and usually requires emergency open-chest surgery to repair or replace the first part of the aorta where the tear started.

The man did in fact undergo surgery for an aortic graft replacement, which involves replacing a damaged section of the aorta and aortic valve with a tube.

He’s understood to have since recovered from his ordeal.

It remains unclear why he suffered a tear to his aorta following masturbation, though medics said his chronic pancreatitis appears to be an “important risk factor”.

Medics dwelled on the fact that the patient didn’t experience any pain from his aortic dissection, stressing that this was unusual.

“This case reinforces that aortic dissection can be present without pain, including the classic presentation of tearing chest pain or back pain,” they wrote.