InsideJapan News Network

In news that could validate decades of Les Dawson jokes, new research suggests that living with the in-laws can seriously damage your health, particularly if you are a Japanese woman.

The study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that Japanese women who live with their husbands and a set of parents are three times more likely to suffer from a heart attack than other women, reports the New York Times.

Dr Ichiro Kawachi, an epidemiological at the schools and one of the authors of the study commented: "We tend, in the West, to view family relations and social support as being protective of health.

"This is the first epidemiological study to show that these traditional living arrangements in Japan are rather harmful for women."

It was recently reported that Japanese men are less susceptible to heart attacks than many of their Western counterparts because of the large amount of fish they consume.