First, shave your body. Then immerse yourself in turpentine. And when the stinging stops, allow leeches to feast on your blood.

It sounds like a particularly refined form of torture. But Demi Moore swears by it, as a way of looking healthy and far younger than her 45 years.

The secret, says Miss Moore, is an extremely alternative beauty therapy.

During an interview with David Letterman yesterday, Demi Moore revealed she is a fan of 'leech therapy'

In New York to promote her new film Flawless, Moore told U.S. talk show host David Letterman: "I feel like I've always been someone looking for the cutting edge of things that optimise your health and healing.

Today, they are sometimes used in plastic and reconstructive surgery to assist in the reattachment of severed body parts.

"They have a little enzyme that when they are biting down in you it gets released in your blood and generally you bleed for quite a bit - and your health is optimised.

"It detoxifies your blood - I'm feeling very detoxified right now.

"I did it in some woman's house lying on her bed. We did a little sampler first, which is in the belly button.