The Wine Diet, By Roger Corder

Many readers will doubtless skip the chapters on polyphenols and procyanidins and why eating vegetables and doing some exercise are also good, and head straight to the ones about how Cabernet Sauvignon saves your life.

But reading the science part is very convincing – as a professor of experimental therapeutics at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, Corder is amply qualified to tell people what they really want to hear.

His best advice is that red wine really is good for you – in moderation – but that some are better than others. Tannat is recommended – as are apples and very bitter chocolat