Marital spats can affect health

Married people who have nasty fights are more likely to suffer from leaky guts - a problem that unleashes bacteria into the blood and can drive up disease-causing inflammation, a study has found.

It's the first study to illuminate this particular pathway between bad marriages and poor health, said Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, from The Ohio State University in the US.

"We think that this everyday marital distress - at least for some people - is causing changes in the gut that lead to inflammation and, potentially, illness," said Kiecolt-Glaser, lead author of the study published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology