Tea’s therapeutic benefits have been known for some time: low BP, low bad cholesterol, high good cholesterol, anti-oxidant properties, the list goes on.

The medical fraternity reluctantly gave the go ahead to alcohol some time back, not to red wine but to alcohol in general. Beer, gin, whiskey, wine, it doesn’t matter, just knock it back and feel them arteries unclog!

Now coffee has entered the list of consumables that were once thought to be bad for you but have turned out to be good. Coffee, research shows, prolongs your life. More accurately, coffee drinkers tend to live longer and have less heart problems.

So what’s next? Cigarettes? I quit over a year ago, after nearly 25 years of a pack plus a day. I have kicked the habit and I feel much the better for it. But every now and then I see someone with a cigarette and a cuppa, and I just crack up.

Like the other day, when I saw a senior doctor enjoying a smoke outside his practice. What gives doc, I asked? You get friendly with docs after cardiac events and can ask such questions. He is German but doesn’t mind a bit of levity.

His views were most interesting. “Not enough research has been done on the stress reducing effect of tobacco, Herr Rahul…”

For the record cigarette smoking does have three beneficial side effects; lower risk of knee-joint replacement, lower risk of Parkinson’s and higher recovery rates in case of an angioplasty. The doctor told me this!

All said and done, enjoy the tea, coffee and the single malts, but stay off tobacco. For now, that is.