CUASSO AL LAGO, Italy, DPA - An early morning foot bath in a warm decoction of herbs and a lazy sip of tasteless detox tea: the day begins slowly in Alain Messegue's lakeside luxury health resort.

But once you've slipped into your blue bathrobe and matching slippers, you are ready to torture your despised belly flab with electric muscle stimulation and jump-start your flagging blood circulation with a breath-stopping hot-cold-hot shower.

The battle for rejuvenation is certainly not for wimps. And yet it is captivating a growing number of over-worked, over-stressed and over-weight Europeans.

Health spas are as old as ancient Rome, of course. But modern opulence has also brought with it greater awareness about the risks of an unhealthy lifestyle, and more and more people are beginning to ride the "wellness wave".

In Italy alone, an estimated 20 million people now spend in excess of 10 billion euros ($A16.48 billion) to get fitter and better looking, according to latest figures provided by the country's Association of Health Centres (AICEB).

And one of the country's fastest growing industries is health tourism.

"We are finding that more and more people are willing to spend their money on a different kind of holiday, one in which they can unplug, get fitter and leave looking better," says AICEB's Aldo Lorenzi.

In line with the latest metrosexual fad, men are no longer embarassed to "get in touch with their feminine side" - as trend- setters put it - and treat themselves to a facial or a body massage while trying to lose their paunches at one of Italy's nearly 2,000 wellness resorts.

Of these, Messegue's Centro Benessere of Cuasso al Lago enjoys an especially high reputation.

Nestled in a chestnut wood near the Swiss border, next to a lake and not far from the Italian Alps, the resort is frequented by businessmen and celebrities wishing to slim down, detox and "get off the world" for an eight or 11-day period.

Famous clients include actors, former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi and supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Messegue's methods are based on teachings passed down to him from his father Maurice, probably France's most famous herbalist. One technique involves soaking a patient's feet and hands in a decoction of herbs whose beneficial properties are absorbed via osmosis through the glands.

Other herbal remedies are the "cataplasma" - a transdermal plaster stuffed with cabbage, egg white and liquid herbs and applied on a client's liver at night - and individually-tailored tisanes.

The idea behind the herb-based therapy is to eliminate poisons accumulated by the organism over the years. Coupled with a balanced diet, this helps improve a patient's digestion and shed unnecessary fat.

Unlike in other weight loss spas, patients are neither starved nor forced to exercise until they drop. Instead, they are encouraged to rest and are offered three-course gourmet meals that provide an average intake of 1,700 calories per day. They are also asked to drink at least three litres of mineral water a day.

"Losing weight isn't about eating as little as possible, it is about consuming slightly less than what one's body is able to eliminate," Messegue tells clients gathered in the hotel's luxurious hall shortly after their arrival.

While herbal treatments were already being used by pre-historic man, their effectiveness is still questioned by many. And yet, a growing body of scientific evidence is now backing their traditional use. About 25 per cent of modern drugs used in the United States are derived from plants.

This correspondent was found by Messegue to be several kilograms overweight and with a greyish looking skin - the result of years of stress, smoking, an unhealthy diet and alcohol abuse.

He underwent a week's therapy, drank personalised tisanes containing green aniseed, rosemary, lime-blossom and mint, and left Cuasso al Lago 3.5 kilograms slimmer, with rosy skin and feeling 10 years younger.

"Humans are pretty much like cars. They need servicing once in a while," Messegue says.

All inclusive prices for a week at Messegue's Hotel Miralago start at euro 3,355 ($A5,529) for a single room and 6,220 ($A10,251) for a double.

Details: visit http://www.alainmessegue.com.

DPA/drp