Sales of alternative medicines are booming despite the long and crippling recession. In just two years, the market has grown by 18 per cent to £213million a year.

Analysts predict sales will increase by 33 per cent to £282million over the next four years. More and more people are rejecting prescription drugs, preferring milder natural remedies. Mintel says the rise is partly explained by official acceptance of many treatments such as acupuncture, which is now available on the NHS.

Other holistic treatments such as the Indian ayurveda, which concentrates on diet, yoga, massage and herbs are making ground against standard invasive therapies.

In these times of recessionary stress, depression has led to a surge of sufferers exploring holistic approaches rather than addictive prescription drugs.

Around 1.5million Britons bought St John’s Wort last year, mainly for depression.

It’s an old saw that if you keep cheerful, you’ll enjoy better health. It doesn’t take much imagination to see why.

Believe in ill-health and it will come your way. Even witch doctors know that.

When a doctor tells a patient “You have three months to live”, a curse has been placed on the sick person. More often than not it will come true. If instead the doctor had said, “I have no doubt you’ll survive if you keep active and remain cheerful”, the outcome would be much better.

It’s a known fact that people who take out health insurance often get ill soon after. They are in reality making a bet on illness and disease rather than health.

An article in Syntagma explains where the British National Health Service (NHS) is going wrong. It’s run by government ministers who don’t understand human nature.

Read the article here.

We have a natural disinclination to drink water from the domestic hot supply. Yet many offices use the hot water on-tap to make coffee or tea.

Why the hesitancy, and is this just an old wive’s tale? Actually, there is a lot of substance in our reluctance.

Many older properties still have lead or copper pipes to deliver the water supply. Hot water dissolves copper and lead more quickly than cold.

Lead damages the brain and nervous system.

Copper contamination can cause liver and kidney deterioration.

So never drink water from the office or domestic hot water supply.

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany, examined the effects of eight red and white wines from various countries on the enamel of teeth removed from men and women aged 40 to 65.

They found that prolonged contact with white wine erodes the protective layer of teeth making them more sensitive to cold, hot and sweet food and drinks.

Teeth soaked in white wines for 24 hours sustained more damage than those left overnight in red wines, says the journal Nutrition Research. “Within the limits of this study, it can be predicted that frequent consumption of white wines might lead to severe dental erosion,” claimed Dr Brita Willershausen.

Other culprits from recent research are orange juice, fizzy drinks, lemon, and grapefruit juice. The acids in these drinks soften the enamel so that immediate brushing can make matters worse.

However, calcium ingestion may provide some sort of defence. The tradition of having cheese with wine, for example, may be an intuitive reaction to the problem

Perhaps a glass of milk swirled round the mouth may also assist in counteracting the acid attack.