JUST how healthy are you?

You can find out in 15 minutes at the Milford Hall Hotel, in Salisbury, on March 10.

There, Salisbury businessman Tony Kaye will demonstrate the BioPhotonic Scanner, the first of its kind in the world.

The scanner, patented by American company Pharmanex and launched in the United States last year, measures an individual's ability to ward off various diseases by reading the person's carotenoid antioxidant status.

Carotenoids are part of the body's defence system and may be an important bio-marker in ascertaining a person's ability to combat free radicals.

There are only two scanners in the UK and one will be in Salisbury next Wednesday.

It will provide residents with the opportunity to find out their own Body Defence Score (BDS) and receive an indication of their antioxidant levels without invasive procedures, such as skin analysis, blood or urine sampling.

Individuals place the palm of their hand in front of the scanner's blue laser and in minutes will know how well prepared they are to ward off various diseases.

Mr Kaye has been with Pharmanex's sister company, Nu Skin Enterprises Inc, for nine years.

He explained that NSE Inc, which boasts a turnover of $1.5b, developed a range of skin care products.

Then a company was set up to manufacture nutritional supplements to pharmaceutical standards.

NSE bought the company, Pharmanex, gave it research facilities and later the nutritional supplement LifePak was born.

Following that, research scientist Dr Werner Gellerman pioneered a blue laser scanner for reading carotenoid levels, which has been developed to measure levels in human tissue.

"It has taken the United States by storm," said Mr Kaye.

"There are about 700 scanners there and people are flocking to find out what their BDS score is.

"Here is something that no-one has had before: doctors and hospitals work from the other end - they try to recognise disease and treat it with drugs or an operation.

"We are looking at the way the body works and what we can do to have it functioning at optimum level."

Mr Kaye said people eating lots of fruit and vegetables, particularly tomatoes and carrots, and exercising regularly would score higher than those who smoke and drink a lot of coffee, for example.

The event, at the Milford Hall Hotel, runs from 12pm to 8pm. Appointments should be made with Mr Kaye by e-mailing him at btc@ukonline.co.uk.

To see how the scanner works, log on to www.pharmanexusa.com.