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.

While antioxidants, omega-3 essential fats, herbs and spices are important components of a healthy diet, what is less well known is that they are also effective at treating pain.

It is a popular misconception that fish oils lubricate your joints. What they actually do is reduce pain and inflammation.

Good research now shows conclusively that fish oil supplements can reduce pain, especially in the joints. An effective amount is the equivalent of 1,000mg of combined EPA and DHA a day, which means two to four of most fish oil capsules.

Antioxidant nutrients help reduce inflammation, so eat plenty of fruit (especially berries) and vegetables, or consider supplementing an antioxidant formula. What you want is a combination of the most powerful antioxidants: vitamins C and E, glutathione, lipoic acid and co-enzyme Q10.

If you are in constant pain, it could be well worth taking extra amounts of these in supplement form for a while - but ideally, in addition to more fruit and vegetables, up your intake of fish, seeds and nuts, onions and garlic.

Certain plant extracts also have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects - one of the most exciting being those from olives. Hydroxytyrosol, an extract from olives, is turning out to be a potent painkiller. It is a kind of polyphenol - a plant chemical that gives some fruit and vegetables their colour. Red grapes and red onions (both of which also contain the natural anti-inflammatory quercitin) contain polyphenols, as does green tea.

Turmeric (left), the bright yellow spice used in many curry powders, contains the active compound curcumin which has a variety of powerful anti-inflammatory actions. Turmeric is part of the ginger family, which also helps reduce inflammation - a teaspoon has an immediate anti-inflammatory effect - so use both ginger and turmeric liberally in food and drinks. Turmeric has one small downside: it can stain. So, be careful when you cook with it.

One of the best-known remedies for joint pain is glucosamine. This is found in almost all the tissues of your body and is one of the building blocks for making cartilage. If you have damaged joints you are unlikely to make enough unless you are in the habit of munching on sea shells, which is the richest dietary source.

Taking 1g to 3g of glucosamine as a nutritional supplement has been shown to slow down or even reverse this degenerative process. In four high-quality studies that gave glucosamine sulphate versus conventional painkillers, the glucosamine worked better in two, and was equivalent to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the other two, but without the side-effects.

If you think of building bone as similar to building a house, glucosamine supplies the body's two-by-fours. These are essential for the framework, but you also need nails - and that is where sulphur comes in.

Extraordinary results are starting to be reported for pain relief in people taking daily supplements of 1 to 3g of one of the most effective sources of sulphur, methylsulfonylmethane (MSM). A combination of both glucosamine and MSM is particularly effective.

One possible reason for this remarkable effectiveness is that sulphur deficiency is far more common than realised. Foods particularly rich in sulphur include eggs, onions and garlic, but sulphur is also found in all protein foods.

DISCLAIMER: Any information or advice given in this column is not intended to replace the advice or services of your physician. The writer's views are his own and do not represent that of the publication.
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Foods that beat the pain

- Eat a diet high in omega-3s, including oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, kippers, tuna and sardines), flax and pumpkin seeds; and go easy on meat and milk. Also take omega-3 fish oil supplements containing 1,000mg of combined EPA/DHA.

- Supplement 1 to 3g of glucosamine a day if you have joint pain.

- Include plenty of omega-3-rich eggs, red onions and garlic in your diet, all high in sulphur.

- Eat olives, use olive oil and add turmeric and ginger to your food.

- Supplement an all-round antioxidant formula and eat lots of fruit and vegetables.

- Check yourself for food allergies with a proper food allergy test (see www.hongkong.yorktest.com)