Patrick Holford is the founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London and heads the Food of the Brain Foundation, pioneering nutritional approaches to mental health. He has written more than 20 health books, including the worldwide bestseller, the Optimum Nutrition Bible.

If you suffer from aches and pains - from headaches to joint pains - there are foods you can eat that help. This is because most aches and pains are caused by inflammation.

This is the body's way of telling you that something is out of balance by triggering pain, redness or swelling. The average person takes over 300 painkiller drugs each year.

The trouble with painkillers such as aspirin and ibuprofen, is that they can damage the gut, causing intestinal bleeding and increasing the risk of food allergy. They also do not deal with the underlying cause, which, for headaches and joint aches, can be spinal misalignment.

The possibility that allergies may be contributing to your joint aches, headaches or other chronic conditions is well worth investigating.

A study, based on interviewing over 5,000 people who had had an allergy test from York test laboratories, found that an impressive 76 per cent of those patients who rigorously followed their allergen-free diet, as determined by a pin-prick blood test, had a noticeable improvement in their condition, with two in three feeling better within three weeks.