A Polymeal a day...

There's a new recipe for heart disease prevention: grab a handful of dark chocolate, a couple of almonds, some fruits and vegetables, a sprinkle of garlic, and wash it all down with a glass of wine.

The polymeal diet is a combination of foods that have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease. It includes the above items eaten on a daily basis, plus fish four times a week.

This diet was first proposed by Oscar Franco, a public health scientist at the University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His research suggested that dining on the polymeal on a daily basis could cut the risk of heart disease by 76%.

It is suggested that a person should consume, each day:

• 150 mL of red wine (half a glass)
• 100 g of dark chocolate
• 400 g of fruits and vegetables
• 2.7 g of garlic
• 68 g of almonds

And, 118 grams of fish per day, four times a week.