Next time you get the snuffles, forget the honey and lemon. Instead, tuck into a giant bowl of that childhood favourite - jelly.

Why? Because scientists say its core ingredient - gelatine - can give your immune system a powerful boost.

Gelatine, a solid, tasteless protein that’s made from slowly boiling bones (you may have noticed it when you leave meat stock in the fridge and it turns solid and wobbly), is also the secret behind why a bowl of warming chicken soup is good for you - because it is packed with amino acids, such as alanine and serine, which help build a powerful immune system.

It’s also great for your looks. When you boil bones, the collagen in them breaks down. Then, as it cools, it reforms into gelatine, which has a similar chemical composition. Collagen keeps skin youthful and elastic so, by eating gelatine, you’ll get many of the same benefits.

Jelly is the quickest way to get a boost of gelatine. The gelatine in jelly is also derived from boiling bones, but has added sugar and colouring. If you want a low-calorie version, choose a variety that’s sugar-free.

Alternatively, if you don’t like jelly, you can also make slow-cooked, meaty stocks and soups - the advantage of this is that you’ll also get plenty of protein and vitamins from the meat and veg.

Nutritionist Dr Sam Christie, of health supplements Nature’s Best, says: ‘This confirms what all our grandmothers knew instinctively.

‘When there are lots of winter bugs around, a dense stew or a spoon or two of jelly is a great medicine. Gelatine is packed with protein, which is fantastic for cell renewal.’

Gelatine contains the amino acids proline and glycine, which are the building blocks of cartilage. It’s also packed with easily digestible calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon and sulphur, which all work to strengthen our bones.

Studies show therapeutic doses of cartilage from animal bones dramatically improve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, as well as other degenerative joint conditions.

It's not just the skin on our faces that suffers as we age. The skin on our body also gets less elastic and that can lead to cellulite.

But, again, by eating lots of gelatine, you can boost your levels of collagen and reduce the spread of dimpling. It will give you a shot of collagen where it’s needed, improving firmness and elasticity.