Two to three hundred thousand Swiss have fallen victim to it and about seven million Americans can speak of arthritis as a personal experience. Many have suffered from it for decades. No wonder life holds no pleasure for them.

Arthritis is definitely a disease of modern civilisation, the outcome of eating the wrong kind of foods. In many cases we have also inherited a predisposition for it. An old saying has it: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

A disturbance of mineral metabolism makes it mandatory that we change from an acid producing diet to one yielding an alkaline surplus. In the first place meat, especially pork sausages, bacon, beef soups, food cooked with eggs and cheese should be avoided.

If you feel you cannot give up meat entirely, at least confine yourself to freshly prepared natural and organic meat and avoid completely all kinds of preserved foods, white sugar, white flour products and tinned foods – in other words everything that has been taken out of its original form.

The diet should consist of potatoes, cereals, unpolished rice, fresh fruit and vegetables or naturally dried fruit containing no chemicals or preservatives. The simpler and more natural the diet, the greater will be its contribution to our everyday health, wellbeing and long life.

The most important remedy for arthritis is potato juice. The potato should be grated and the juice squeezed out and taken first thing in the morning before breakfast. It can also be taken in warm water or added to soup if you wish to dilute it. This most important and excellent remedy is at everyone’s disposal all over the world and is easily obtainable.

Other healing juices which may be taken daily in small amounts are kale and carrot juices in conjunction with the potato juice. The best way to take them is undiluted. Sip slowly so that they can be salivated before swallowing.

Externally, apply pulped Comfrey roots to the painful parts and you will find that the pain will gradually disappear. There is a wide selection of teas you can drink; Birch leaves, Rest Harrow, Anise, Golden Rod, Dandelion and Nettle.

Herbal remedies from fresh herb extracts are also of excellent help. Of recommended value are Knotgrass, Devil’s Claw (Harpagophytum) and Nettle (Urtica).