A new study has produced what seems to be conclusive evidence that a cup of green tea a day will help to keep your heart healthy.

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In tests, the beverage was discovered to widen the artery that runs from the shoulder to the elbow by 4pc within 30 minutes. Using ultrasound scanning to measure the performance of the brachial artery, this was taken as a good indicator of improved blood flow around the body.

The report, by Dr Nikolaos Alexopoulos and colleagues at the 1st Cardiology Department, Athens Medical School, and published in The European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, claims this is the first time green tea has been demonstrated to have a short-term beneficial effect on the large arteries.

The experiment involved a team of healthy volunteers who were given green tea, caffeine or hot water to drink on three separate occasions. Measurements of the brachial artery were taken at three stages after they drank their beverage.

While green tea had a marked effect, caffeine and hot water had none.

According to the team, dilation of the artery shows better functioning of the endothelium, the layer of cells lining blood arteries that stops clots forming.

Previous research had suggested black tea improves short and long-term endothelial performance, but this is the first time green tea has been shown to have a short-term beneficial effect on the large arteries.

Another study has already shown that green tea reverses endothelial dysfunction in smokers.

However, the fermentation process used to make black tea reduces the content of flavonoids — beneficial antioxidants — by up to 90 per cent, which is why green tea is believed to offer superior health benefits.

One of the researchers, Dr Charalambos Vlachopoulos said, “These findings have important clinical implications. Tea consumption has been associated with reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in several studies. Green tea is consumed less in the Western world than black tea, but it could be more beneficial because of the way it seems to improve endothelial function. Recent studies have also shown potent anticarcinogenic effects of green tea, attributed to its antioxidant properties.’

Yet more research shows drinking green tea lowers “bad” cholesterol and blood pressure, and reduces harmful liver enzymes.

Even more, drinking green tea could help ward off cancer, with a study showing that just four cups of green tea a day reverses cell damage in heavy smokers and hence the development of tumours. Japanese researchers also found that a green tea and exercise regime reduced the usual drop in strength and muscle performance associated with getting older.

To back all that up, Brazilian scientists showed that drinking three cups of green tea a day reduced damage caused by resistance training.

Green tea really is the bee’s knees — and probably the cat’s whiskers too.

You may shudder at the taste of vinegar — a surprising number of people, especially children, do — but it really is good for you.

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Cider vinegar taken with meals will reduce your blood pressure just as it’s likely to rise.

A shot of the liquid, twice a day, cuts out cravings and helps the body digest food.

Cider vinegar is deemed preferable to other forms, like malt, wine and balsamic, because it is said to have added health benefits, such as antioxidants, as well as tasting sweeter, rendering it more palatable.

It can be bought in good grocery stores, or unfiltered in health food shops.

For most people coffee is an innocuous beverage associated with hanging out among friends in Starbucks or more gentile tearooms.

For others — let’s call them power users — it’s a nasty addiction that causes heart palpitations, panic attacks and other alarming side effects. The main culprit, of course, is caffeine.

We should be aware that caffeine is present in quantity in chocolate and many soft drinks, like Coca Cola, and less so in various teas. It’s hard to escape.

So how can you give it up? Here’s a simple Sideways method that will cause you little pain and avoids the withdrawal symptoms often referred to as “cold turkey”. It involves an eight-day tapering down period which gently eases you off what has now become a poison to you.

Don’t give up coffee overnight. That just condemns you to four or five days of headaches and nausea. Try switching to tea instead. This means the English variety of black tea. Black tea has some caffeine but less than coffee, so the jump is not a quantum leap.

After four days of that, switch to green tea, which has very little caffeine, but huge health benefits from the high levels of antioxidants.

You can actually stick with green tea after the four days, if you like the taste — many don’t — but this is the point at which you can say goodbye to caffeine completely.

It’s up to you.

Tomatoes have long been known to possess many health benefits. Whether eaten raw in salads and sandwiches, or cooked and processed into soups, purees, pastes and sauces, the good news just keeps on coming.

We’ve heard about their effect in preventing various types of cancer, of prostate and the skin, and the humble fruit’s use against heart disease and stroke. Now it’s a great cosmetic too.

The benefits are credited to lycopene, the pigment behind the distinctive red skin and a powerful antioxidant.

Professor Birch-Machin, of Newcastle University believes tomatoes are a cheap and simple way of improving health and looking good.

After a joint study by Manchester and Newcastle universities, he said, “I went into the study as a sceptic, but I was quite surprised with the significance of the findings.”

The British Society for Investigative Dermatology’s annual conference was told that tests using ultra-violet lamps showed that tomato-eaters were a third better protected against sunburn at the end of the study than at the start. Other tests suggested a tomato-based diet boosted production of collagen, the protein that keeps skin supple.

Tomatoes also protect the mitochondria, the parts of cells that turn food we eat into energy. “Being kind to our mitochondria is likely to contribute to improved skin health, which in turn may have an anti-ageing effect,” Professor Birch-Machin said.

The researchers now recommend two tomato-based meals a day for optimum health.