One of the best ways to overcome cancer, we are constantly being told, is either to prevent it or at least to catch it before it has had a chance to develop. This is particularly true of breast cancer.

Many of our grandmothers will have cooked us beetroot borscht, which is delicious eaten hot or cold. My own granny also used to add chopped beetroot to salads and mix it up with herring.

Ashkenazi cuisine does not have a healthy reputation, but in this case it seems that our ancestors had unintentionally stumbled upon a superfood. The humble beetroot has recently been credited with lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, inhibiting cancer cells and helping to boost the immune system and energy levels.

For a doctor who has built an empire on pricey skin care products, Dr Howard Murad has a surprising message - the secret of a radiant and younger-looking complexion is… water.

In fact getting more water into our cells and keeping it there is the secret to better health all round, says the Baghdad-born associate professor of medicine at California's prestigious UCLA Geffen School of Medicine.

"Every single cell is connected to every other cell, so to have good skin you have to have a good body in every sense," he declares.

Having your arteries scanned may seem an odd thing to do at Waikiki Beach, but Hawaii, with its surf and all the accoutrements of island life, is a great place to get a personal MOT. As is the lakeside resort of Montreux, the California desert playground of Palm Springs or the world-class cities of London and Tel Aviv.

All these holiday destinations now attract not only conventional tourists but medical ones too, many of them businesspeople who like to use their downtime combining a vacation with a thorough check-up by doctors whose clinics boast the most up-to-date technology.

The Federation of Jewish Services in Manchester is mirroring an NHS strategy with a new post to boost customer service.

Shira Baram has started work as customer care co-ordinator, a role based on the Patient Advice Liaison Service offered in hospitals, which is designed to improve the NHS by better recording feedback and complaints.

She will be the person to turn to for Heathlands residents, care clients and their families when they feel services do not meet expectations, or could be improved.

A group of Parkinson's disease patients have pooled their resources to bring an Israeli martial arts expert to London for some off-beat treatment.

Alex Kerten, who holds black belts in several fighting styles, was flown to Britain after Laurie Phillips, 67, had taken his wife to see him in Israel.

The result was a series of workshops which left the wife of one sufferer in tears after she saw her husband, who has been in a wheelchair for 16 months, stand up and dance.

Early in the morning in a park or garden you may have seen people of all ages, moving slowly, in a gentle rhythm, practising the ancient art of Tai-Chi. What is the reason for Tai-Chi's growing popularity? And as Tai-Chi seems to have Chinese spiritual elements, is it compatible with Judaism?