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.

In the current economic downturn, employers are more wary of sickness rates than ever and even school effectiveness is, in part, measured by the rates of absence amongst pupils.

With the current swine flu scare, which has been heightened by media reports that the disease cannot be treated with antibiotics, and with coughs, colds and winter bugs appearing more severe year on year, it seems increasingly important for us to take good care of our immune systems. We really need the natural defences necessary to avoid getting sick.

Research shows that a healthy diet helps maintain and boost the immune system. But even fruit and vegetables are not as good for us as they used to be! A revealing study by the University of Texas showed a marked decline in the nutrient content in fruit and vegetables over a period from 1950 to 1999.

Modern farming methods are thought to be to blame, with nutrient content being sacrificed for the faster growth rate of newer varieties of fruits and vegetables.

While the Government can claim the credit for investing in the “Five a Day” campaign to promote the consumption of five portions of fruit and vegetables daily for the associated health benefits, there is still the issue of the large list of artificial additives that are present in most of our everyday foodstuffs.

Many of these additives, known as E numbers, are present in the products we purchase from our local supermarkets as a matter of routine. Scientific research has shown artificial additives are allergens and toxins which can potentially weaken the immune system. As a result a great many of them are banned in other countries while they are still allowed in the UK.

Furthermore, we mustn’t forget about the real risk that officials will clamp down on the sales of natural remedies and supplements, perhaps forcing the public into a corner where choice is limited. Perhaps they think we will turn to the controversial solution of mass vaccination in an effort to safeguard our health.

If you look beyond the media hype, swine flu possibly poses less of a risk to the whole population than we’ve been led to believe. It could be more useful to turn our concerns to what’s in our food, where it comes from and who says it’s safe to eat.

It amounts to what sensible people have been saying for years: if we really want to keep ourselves out of the doctor’s surgery with minor ailments, there is a strong case for eating locally produced, seasonal, organic food, brushing up on our cooking skills rather than relying on pre-packed convenience foods, whatever the latest publicly-funded report has to say.