How two cups of tea a day can help your heart

FORGET trendy superfoods – two cups of tea a day can help protect against heart attacks and strokes.

Experts have drawn up the first dietary guidelines for plant compounds called flavanols which can improve blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

The guidelines show the simplest way to achieve the recommended 400 to 600mg a day is to have two cups of black tea. This is good news for Britons, whose love of tea means we get around 82 per cent of common flavanols in liquid form.

Apples and berries also contain the compound.

Dr Gunter Kuhnle, from the University of Reading, said: ‘The point of these guidelines is that they are achievable and could be managed with just two cups of tea a day.’