If you don’t like fruit and veg but want to look after your heart, scientists may have come up with the answer. Now, researchers from Cambridge University have created a ‘tomato pill’ that is bursting with lycopene – the pigment that gives tomatoes their rich, red colour. A single Ateronon pill contains as much lycopene as more than 2lb of the fruit, Daily Mail reports.

They have shown the supplement improves blood vessel health in survivors of heart attacks and people with angina and other cardiac problems. In those who took the £1-a-day pill once a day for two months, vital cells that line the inside of blood vessels became healthier. These endothelial cells are key to keeping blood moving through the body – and to warding off future heart attacks and strokes. In those who took the lycopene, blood vessels were able to open more than 50 per cent wider by the end of the study, improving blood flow.

Researcher Dr Joseph Cheriyan, of Cambridge University and the city’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital, said: ‘We've shown quite clearly that lycopene improves the function of blood vessels in cardiovascular disease patients.’

It should be mentioned that lycopene is especially potent when mixed with olive oil.

The British Heart Foundation, which helped fund the study, said that more work was needed to see if the benefits seen lead to actual improvement to heart health.