Apples
It’s crunch time. The quercetin found in an apple a day will improve lung capacity and protect against pollution, say scientists at St George’s Hospital Medical School, London.
Servings per week: 5
What everyone's reading
Try baked apples with pink peppercorns or oaty apple crumble muffins.
Avocado
The sodium, potassium and magnesium found in the creamy fruit improved lung volume and oxygen flow in a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Servings per week: half x3
Cook up tortilla soup with avocado.
Marmite
Even if you hate it, try to love it for your heart’s sake: Bristol University scientists say the benfotiamine in the spread has a beneficial effect on your cardiovascular function.
Servings per week: on toast x3
Champagne
Raise a glass to your heart, say Reading University scientists. Their studies found the polyphenols in bubbly reduce the loss of nitric oxide from the blood, improving circulation.
Servings per week: 3 glasses
Steak
Each footstrike damages red blood cells, lowering your levels of iron – key to getting oxygen to the working muscles. Heme iron in steak is easily absorbed, says sports dietitian Karen Reid.
Servings per week: 150g fillet x2
Tofu
Bean curd is a source of unsaturated fats. A study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that eating these fats post exercise boosts blood flow by up to 45 per cent.
Servings per week: 150g x2
