Lauren Gelman: You may already eat a heart healthy breakfast, but did you know that what you sip with your morning meal can also help your ticker for a double dose of heart absorption, try green tea with lemon. In a study of more than 40,500 Japanese men and women, those who drink five or more cups of green tea everyday had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease and stroke. Researchers attribute the protective effect of catechin, powerful antioxidants found in tea. Trouble is less then 20% of these relatively unstable compounds can survive digestion, so get more out of every cup squeeze in lemon juice.

The vitamin C in lemon helps your body absorb 13 times more catechin then it could obtain from plain tea alone according to Purdue University, with the catechin boost form vitamin C you can help your heart by drinking just one or two cups daily and if lemons make you pucker squeeze in some orange, lime or grapefruit juice. They increase antioxidant absorption too though to a lesser extent. Just skip the milk it actually interferes with catechin absorption and stick to freshly brewed tea, hot or iced. The catechins in ready to drink bottles are ineffective. Check back tomorrow for another 60-Second Solutions.