A LITTLE OF WHAT YOU FANCY...

My maternal grandmother was a very wise woman - no that's not her in the photo. Many of the sayings she taught me when I was a child hold true today. One truism was “A little of what you fancy does you good.” Hence I tend to totally ignore all the health warnings associated with food and drink and follow her missive: “All things in moderation.”

I write these words because the British Medical Journal has just published research by Iranian scientists that suggests that if you drink very hot tea you can provoke throat cancer.

Well let me tell the BMJ something for nothing – if you drink very hot tea you can also burn your mouth, tongue and throat – all of these are much more likely - and I’m not even a scientist!

For Britons tea has a very strong place in our national identity. My grandmother’s and parents’ generations survived the blitz of the Second World War by knowing the calming values of a good cup of tea. With a doodle bug hovering over your head you sipped your Rosy Lee slowly in the certain knowledge that it would pass you by. You certainly didn’t expect to get zapped by throat cancer – and nor were you!

You can be certain that for every food or drink warning issued – they’ll be conflicting data in a year or so time.

I will drink my red wine, enjoy a plate of egg and bacon, even a mug of tea – knowing as my grandmother taught me – a little of what you fancy does you good and all things in moderation!