Dr Michael Mosley's daily serving of £1 drink 'lowers cholesterol and inflammation'

Michael Mosley once said that a daily serving of the drink can have many benefits

Doctor Michael Mosley, who passed away earlier this year, suggested that people consume a daily serving of one drink that has many health benefits and costs around £1.20. Revealing it could help your heart health, it can also reduce your levels of “bad cholesterol” and reduce your risk of some diseases.

The doctor said "a summary of six separate studies" suggested drinking just "one to one-and-a-half cups of tomato juice a day for six weeks" can help to reduced levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or “bad cholesterol”. It can also help raise levels of HDL (high-density liproprotein) aka “good cholesterol”. You can pick it up for as little as £1.20 in the likes of ASDA.

If you drink this for six weeks, as suggested, you can reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. As part of the doctor's Just One Thing series, the expert previously said drinking the juice is also good for people who like to exercise stating you can help your muscle to recover after exercise. "A study by Greek scientists saw athletes either given an energy drink or tomato juice after strenuous exercise. Those who drank the tomato juice showed signs of quicker muscle recovery and reduced inflammation markers in their blood," Dr Mosley explained.

In the last week, Tim Spector, the founder of the ZOE, said in an Instagram video sometimes tinned tomatoes may be better than the raw form - and you can get these for as little as 30p in many stores. Tomatoes contain polyphenol and because of this, some experts say if we regularly eat foods that contain this plant compound, then it will not only reduce our risk of heart disease, but it will also help fight against type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

In a published study, researchers say that the Mediterranean diet, which contains tomatoes, can help reduce the risk of cancer. It explains: "Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. Schwingshackl et al. discussed the effects of a tomato-rich Mediterranean diet on the risk of overall cancer mortality. This paper observed that, in a clinical trial, a Mediterranean diet was found to reduce cancer incidence by 61% and also stated that a “healthy diet” can prevent approximately 30% of cancers.

"A review by Farinetti et al. studied the benefits of the Mediterranean diet on colorectal cancer, with lycopene in particular as an important component of this diet, including polyphenols from olive oil and red wine resveratrol, which act to inhibit molecular cancer pathways in vitro. The health benefits from tomatoes are enhanced as part of the Mediterranean diet as lycopene is more readily absorbed in the intestines when it has been dissolved in olive oil and heated."