A new Female Health Hub launched by the English FA will support women and girls in grassroots football in England with trusted advice on health issues affecting play.

The hub brings together expert-backed guidance, practical tools and player insights in one place, giving women and girls practical advice and reassurance on female health in football.

It has four core aims: to help women and girls better understand their bodies and how female health affects performance and participation, to educate players on key health topics and when to seek further advice or support, to provide practical strategies to help navigate common female health challenges, and to help break down taboos and normalise conversations around female health in football.

Users of the hub will also be able to hear directly from members of the England women’s national team, who share their own experiences of navigating female health matters while playing at the highest level of the game.

“Our ambition is to create a game where women and girls can thrive,” said Sue Day, the FA’s director of women’s football.

“To achieve that, it’s essential that players feel supported in environments that understand and respond to their female health needs.

“We’ve heard directly from grassroots players that they want better information and support around female health, but that they often don’t know where to find it.

“The launch of the Female Health Hub marks an important step in changing the landscape.

“We want every player to feel confident in her own skin and supported without judgment, so she can feel empowered by her body, rather than held back by it.”

The platform was launched following research conducted by the FA that highlighted the need for better education and support around female health in football.

According to the FA, 88 per cent of adult players surveyed said their menstrual cycle has an impact on their ability to train or play, but 86 per cent reported they had never received education about the menstrual cycle in relation to football performance and training.

The research also found 64 per cent of women experience issues related to sports bras or breast health while playing football, despite sports bras being considered one of the most important pieces of playing kit.

Players also expressed strong interest in learning more about injury prevention, at 87 per cent, nutrition, at 84 per cent, and mental health, at 77 per cent, in relation to female health.

The first phase of the Female Health Hub focuses on three of the most requested topics: menstrual health, breast health and injury resilience, with further content to follow, including nutrition and pelvic health guidance.

Childhood abuse may alter gene activity in some women, raising depression risk, UK Biobank analysis suggests.

The pattern was not seen in men, suggesting the biological links between trauma and depression may differ by sex, an area of interest given higher depression rates among women.

Using data from thousands of people in the UK Biobank, the team analysed childhood experiences, mental health and genetic profiles, focusing on a gene network involved in synaptic function, the way brain cells communicate, which is disrupted in depression.

Researchers at McGill University and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute examined this network and found that, among women who experienced childhood abuse, one configuration was linked to a higher risk of depression.

Senior author Patricia Silveira is professor in McGill’s Department of Psychiatry and researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.

She said: “We know childhood abuse increases the risk of depression at the population level, but at the individual level it’s much harder to predict who will actually develop the disorder.

“Our findings point to a biological mechanism that may help explain who is more at risk, at least in women.”

The work is part of efforts to identify genomic signatures linked to depression risk, which is estimated to affect around 11 per cent of Canadian adults over their lifetime.

Our findings suggest that depression risk is shaped by how genes involved in synaptic function respond to early-life experiences.

That makes synaptic function a promising target for future research,” said co-first author Carla Dalmaz, a visiting professor at the Douglas from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.

“Depression is diagnosed primarily based on reported symptoms, and there are still no widely accepted biological tools in routine clinical practice to identify risk early,” added co-first author Danusa Mar Arcego, a research associate at the Douglas.

“Our findings bring us a step closer to understanding why some people may be more vulnerable, opening the door to earlier support and prevention strategies.”