Baking soda, or bicarbonate of soda in the UK, is a raising agent for baking—but it also has enormous therapeutic value. It reduces acid levels in the blood—which helps reverse heart disease and osteoporosis—but it also moderates the immune system's inflammatory responses. That means that auto-immune problems like rheumatoid arthritis—where the body is essentially attacking itself—can be eased.

And the improvements can be seen quickly, and within two weeks, researchers from Augusta University have discovered.

The calories in the drink could make you obese and increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease while those in starch won't have any harmful effect at all, say researchers from the University of California at Davis.

Eating an egg a day reduces your risk of heart disease by around 12 per cent and of stroke by up to 26 per cent, say Chinese researchers who reviewed the diets and health of 512,000 people, aged between 30 and 79 years.

People with poor levels of bacteria in their gut are more likely to suffer from arterial stiffness, researchers discovered when they monitored the health of 617 middle-aged women, many of whom were twins. There was an inverse relationship between gut diversity and arterial disease; in other words, the women with the greatest diversity of bacteria had the least amount of arterial stiffness.

The diet, which focuses on fresh vegetables, fruit, olive oils and nuts, can at least halve the chance of developing heart disease from air pollution.

People who closely followed the diet were 50 per cent less likely to die from any cause and reduced their chances of dying from a heart attack or developing heart disease around three-fold.

A little sunbathing, taking vitamin D supplements and eating foods rich in the vitamin, such as eggs and red meat, can all help you survive cancer. The vitamin also protects against heart disease and diabetes and strengthens our bones.

Eating one egg a day lowers the risk of developing the lifestyle disease, as it's known, and now researchers have discovered why they have their protective effects.

Just seeing eggs as being high in cholesterol is simplistic; instead, they contain many bio-active compounds that are good for us, say researchers from the University of Eastern Finland.

This is because antibiotics destroy the 'good' bacteria in the gut that protect against infections and inflammation, and inflammation is the key to many chronic diseases, from arthritis, heart problems and cancer.

Although medicine accepts that over-use of antibiotics leads to resistance and 'super bugs', it can also be the gateway drug to most of the chronic diseases that afflict the West.

People taking the drugs for two months or longer were 32 per cent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, say researchers who reviewed a study involving around 36,500 women.

The tipping point seems to happen around the age of 70 when any protective effects of aspirin are far outweighed by its dangers, say researchers. Only people with existing heart problems should continue taking the drug.

But even much younger people—aged from 45—shouldn't be taking aspirin if they are healthy; instead, they should be looking to prevent heart disease with a healthier diet and exercise, say researchers from Monash University in Australia.

The diet has been tested on a group of 45 people who were overweight or obese, and who were also given a low-fat diet—but without avocado—to see if that worked any better on their cholesterol levels.

They are hoping the seeds will eventually be developed as a functional food to fight a range of other inflammatory diseases, too, such as arthritis, heart disease and some cancers.

The effect isn't dramatic—it reduces your risk of developing cardiovascular disease by just 8 percent—but there's definitively an association, say researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine.

Six or more cups a day increase your risk of heart disease by 22 per cent, researchers reckon. This seems to be the tipping point for coffee drinking, after which your blood pressure will rise. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is one cause of cardiovascular disease, still the world's major killer.

Despite the growth of the low-fats industry, a diet high in dairy fats seems to be protective, as several new studies have found. But digging further into the data, researchers from the University of Haifa in Israel have concluded the diet almost doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes for women—and yet protects men.

The latest research conclusively establishes that dairy fat doesn't increase the risk of heart disease—and certainly doesn't clog up our arteries. Despite the growing evidence, the latest dietary guidelines for Americans still recommends eating fat-free or low-fat foods.

The incentives cost UK taxpayers around £1 bn annually—and the average family doctor can earn, on average, an extra £17,000 ($21,711) a year to prescribe drugs for a range of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.

But the patient isn't benefiting. A major review of cash-for-prescriptions schemes has found that the drugs aren't helping the patient live a longer life or reducing the rate of hospital admissions for conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

The advice to take an aspirin a day, which became dogma by the 1990s, was based on flawed science, say researchers from Canada's University of Alberta.

It's easier to follow than adopting a healthier diet or exercising, say researchers from the Salk Institute.

Replacing just 5 percent of your calories from processed meat for a plant-based alternative—such as nuts or vegetables—will dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease later in life.