Every supermarket chiller has pomegranate juice as it is the new ‘superfood’ and studies have shown numerous health benefits ranging from protection against prostate cancer, slowing cartilage loss in arthritis, and potentially preventing Alzheimer’s. Although I personally don’t drink it as it doesn’t suit my ‘blood group’ type there is even more evidence that it can be good for you. According to the results of a new study done in China – where they seem to have cornered the market in anti-ageing as I presume they glug the stuff down while doing their early morning tai chi – pomegranate juice is more effective than apple juice in boosting the body’s antioxidant defences, which decline naturally with age.

They gave their research subjects (average age 63) a 250ml glass of pomegranate juiced every day for a month and found that the anti-oxidant capacity of their blood was increased by almost 10% while a control group, who drank apple juice, showed negligible changes.