French scientists have created a cocktail of seven fruit juices that could help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke and - tastes good.

The "super-smoothie" contains grapes, apples, blueberries and strawberries.

However, there are exotic additions. These include the so-called superfoods cowberry (aka lingonberry) - a tart, red fruit related to the cranberry - and acerola, a red cherry-like fruit that has 30 times more vitamin C than orange juice.

The final ingredient of the smoothie is aronia, or chokeberry, an American blackberry once described as the "healthiest berry in the world".

According to scientists, their smoothie contains the healthiest and best tasting combination of fruit juices. Blends of 13 different purees and juices were analysed in a laboratory for their effects on pig arteries. But 80 volunteers selected the final recipe after tests.

"This research adds more weight to evidence that eating fruit and vegetables is good for us in terms of reducing our risk for heart disease," the Daily Mail quoted Tracy Parker, of the British Heart Foundation, as saying.

"However, we still don't fully understand why, or whether certain fruits and vegetables are better than others. Even this study acknowledges that scientists can't yet explain any link."

"What we do know is that we should all eat a wide range of fruit and veg as part of a balanced diet, and fruit juice is a tasty and handy way of doing this."

"Don't forget though, juice contains less fibre and more sugar than the original fruit so it only counts as one of our five-a-day," added Parker.

The healthy heart fruit cocktail recipe

The following proportions of ingredients have been rounded up to the nearest one per cent:

Acerola, 4 per cent

Apple, 10 per cent

Grape, 63 per cent

Lingonberry, 5 per cent

Aronia, 4 per cent

Blueberry, 10 per cent

Strawberry, 10 per cent