Champagne

It’s time to celebrate – drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may delay the onset of dementia and could counteract memory loss associated with ageing. A 2013 study from the UK found champagne, with its high level of phenolic compounds, improved spatial memory, which is responsible for future navigational planning and understanding information about our environment.

During ageing, proteins in the brain usually start to reduce and that’s where our favourite sparkling comes in – the compounds in champagne slow the loss of these proteins.

Might just be time to pop open the bubbly.

Red wine

We’ve all heard about the benefits of drinking red wine, but did you know it could potentially improve your gym performance? Resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine has been found to have beneficial effects on cardiac and skeletal muscle force similar to the effects of endurance exercise training. The research so far has only been conducted in rats, but that’s good enough for us.

Chocolate

Those in the older generations might be onto something – having a hot cup of cocoa is not only delicious but is good for your brain. Research has found that regular cocoa consumption can improve the brain’s blood supply and cognitive function.

Spicy foods

While spicy foods may get your heart racing, they might actually help you live longer if you eat them regularly. A Chinese study found people who ate spicy foods (predominantly fresh chilli pepper, dried chilli pepper, chilli sauce or chilli oil) six or seven days a week were less likely to die from cancer, heart disease and respiratory diseases compared with those who ate spicy foods less than once a week.