NEARLY 100 people went along to Salisbury's Milford Hall Hotel earlier this month to find out how healthy they were.

The participants were having their skin carotenoid levels measured by the BioPhotonic Scanner, the first of its kind in the world.

The scanner, patented by American company Pharmanex, measures carotenoids, which are part of the body's defence system.

Pharmanex was set up to manufacture nutritional supplements to pharmaceutical standards and was bought by Nu Skin Enterprises, which developed a range of skin-care products.

Nu Skin Enterprises gave Pharmanex research facilities and a nutritional supplement called LifePak was born. Following that, the scanner was pioneered and launched in the United States last year.

Participants place their right hand in front of the scanner's blue laser and in minutes they have their score.

Paula Iaciofano, executive account manager for Nu Skin Enterprises, asked Salisbury's participants if they took any supplements, if they smoked, whether they took regular exercise and how many portions of fruit and vegetables they ate a day.

She explained that carotenoids were powerful antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables, particularly carrots and tomatoes, which were good at fighting off infection.

Pollution and stress would lower the carotenoid score, as would smoking and caffeine.

The scanner produces scores in four bands: red (10,000-19,999), yellow (20,000-29,999), green (30,000-39,999) and blue (40,000-49,999 plus).

Ms Iaciofano said everyone could do something to increase the amount of exercise they took - for example they could get off the bus one stop before their intended destination and walk the rest of the way.

Two women who were scanned at the Salisbury event recorded levels of 38,000 and 40,000.

The company will be back in Salisbury in June to give residents the chance to see if their scores have improved.